


The Ninth Spirit

by NervousAliceCurious



Series: Escape the Night Fandom 3 - Lost Fragments [1]
Category: Multi-Fandom, OET, Our ETerNity Together (Web Series AU)
Genre: Duality, From Scratch, M/M, Song Disasters, Summer Camp, Washed Away
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-16
Updated: 2020-07-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:34:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 53
Words: 34,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22273402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NervousAliceCurious/pseuds/NervousAliceCurious
Summary: On one side, Hope still exists. On the other, Resignation flourishes. One must fight, and one must endure.But one would like to find the cracks while the other doesn't see.
Relationships: (From This Point Onward), Nightcrawler/Vero (Assuming they're still together), Vero/Aun
Series: Escape the Night Fandom 3 - Lost Fragments [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1603276
Comments: 105
Kudos: 3





	1. Inside the Mind: Chocolate Runoff

**Author's Note:**

> Hoo boy, I have strange ideas.
> 
> Also, in the end notes, if anything has changed, please let me know, and I will fix it immediately! : )
> 
> Also if I did an oops and something isn't the way it's supposed to be character-wise.
> 
> Or if you want me to take anybody out.

“We’re gonna need a new mirror”.

Sal sighed.

“…”

Makoto was just…shocked.

“Think you can find another one?”

“I…I don’t know”.

“No s*”, Nightcrawler snarked.

“For we all know, that was the only one”.

-

As they were walking, things…actually went back to being peaceful.

“What, did they take a break up there!?” Vero wondered sarcastically.

“Maybe…”

The Hope of their small band perked up.

“That’d be our first stroke of good luck”.

_Fast-forward to what felt like ten years into the future._

“You guys smell that?” Sal asked.

“Ugh, it’s candy…”

The Hitman wrinkled his nose.

“What’s candy doing down here?”

The Shadow Demon got his answer in the form of a flat-out gushing river!!!!

“Fuuuu-“

They were swamped.

“I hate this!” Nightcrawler burst from the stream, glasses askew, and hair absolutely ruined.

“Just lay back!”

Makoto tried to-

“I can’t-I can’t move!”

“I can!”

A strong grip closed around his waist.

With a jerking THUD, himself, his rescuer, and his boyfriend, were all ripped free of the current only to crash-land in a raised alcove full of nothing but hard floor.

“Ow…”

“Thanks”.

“No problem”.

They kissed, and he hopped into the flood once more.

-

When the threesome disappeared.

He got a nice spray of sweet-smelling gunk to the face.

“-!!”

Gritting his teeth against the pain, the man endured being swept around a corner.

Limbs stuck together, head barely above the point where he would drown.

Carried so far down, it would be a miracle if anyone found him-

The gush leveled out, and then disappeared.

Into a giant candyfall.

-

“They’re gonna be okay”, Makoto whispered to himself.

“They have to be okay”.

“They will be, don’t worry”.

“I’m not worrying”.

“…Yes you are”.

-

An absurdly long time went by.

It went by soooo long that the Hitman started to pace restlessly.

“They’ll be back”, he said.

“…Yeah”.

-

Maybe it wasn’t forever.

“Sorry for the wait, this one tried to go overboard”.

Sal smiled weakly as he dangled upside-down from the guy’s arm.

“Told you”.

-

The candy stream dried up.

Dispersed with a whimper.

No trace of stickiness left behind.

“What even was that!?”

“I have no idea”, Makoto sighed, “but thank God it’s over”.

-

From that moment onward, the going was free of strange and malicious incidents.

However…

“…Guess we’re back to Square One, huh?”


	2. Island Of Death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While trying to navigate an ambiguous situation, everything explodes at once.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Memories of Summer.

Stuck at the drawing-board once more.

Down _one._

Did _not_ bode well for their overall progress.

Vero: “Think any other traps have been set around here?”

Makoto: “We could check-“

Sal: “With what?”

Nightcrawler: “I don’t know, must be something!”

Sal: “Fairy dust?”

Other Three: “What(!)?”

Sal: “It’s the only thing that’d hit everywhere in this place”.

Makoto: “Wouldn’t we have to speak to Tinker Bell about that?”

Sal: “…”

Sal: “Never mind then”.

-

Since every mirror afforded a potential danger, there…honestly wasn’t much they could do.

And one day:

A surge of electricity, plunging everything into the dark.

Vero: “What was that!?”

Nightcrawler: “Show yourself!!”

Light flickered into being to show certain Guests having been morphed into their Season 4 personas.

Another certain Guest having been returned from the Dead even:

_Timothy Delaghetto._

Sal: “Saved by canon. Barely-“

And a new face:

_Miss Bretman Rock, the Playboy._

-

Not even an hour later, Nora and Elsie’s portraits were shivering and shaking, no sign of the cause-

Makoto: “Oh my God…what’s happening to them!?”

Nightcrawler: “They’re dying-what does it look like?”

-

Not even ten minutes.

Timothy Delaghetto’s portrait crumbled back into dust.

Sal: “Doomed”.

_*He sighed*._

-

Finally.

Pe-

Vero: “It’s not over yet, is it”.

Elsie’s portrait faded into nothing.

Completely erased from reality.

Sunny’s portrait moved into the vacated gap.

And shuddered to death in their place.

-

Nightcrawler: “Wow”.

Sal: “…”

Makoto: “…What _was_ that”.

Vero: “They must’ve done something really bad”.

-

_Now,_ there was peace.

The former Ultimate Hope let out an exhausted breath.

“We need to get our act together-“

“It’s a bit hard to do if we can’t even guarantee that the Gates to Reality still work like they’re supposed to.

And that’s not even getting into the thousands of mirrors-“

Sal ran a hand through his blue hair.

“I don’t even know if anyone can get in safely, much less get out”.

“-Is that why we haven’t seen Kyoko recently!?” he exclaimed.

“Oh, so it’s just ‘Kyoko’ now, eh?”

Vero smirked.

Makoto turned ten shades of red.

“U-um-“

He was so flustered, his hands were flapping like a bird’s wings on caffeine.

“Th-that’s-! That’s-!!“

“It’s fine”.

Unlike his Creepypasta peers, he had a genuine smile.

“And I’m sure _she’s_ fine.

After all, she _is_ the Unstoppable Kirigiri..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They still don't know what's coming.


	3. Spooks From Nowhere

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No deaths, just life. Oddly enough...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this time, THERE'S NO CLOWN.

More time passed…

With not a thing to be changed.

Until one day-

**THUDDDDD-**

Vero: “What in the name of Satan-!!?”

_Orpheus._

A portrait that had utterly missed the wall, and landed gracefully upon the floor in a million, billion pieces.

Makoto, silently: _How is he not dead._

-

_Azura._

_Dahlia._

Two new ones.

They’d arrived _much_ less violently.

Nightcrawler: “How many more are gonna be sucked into this!?”

-Oh yes.

And the kicker?

Sal: “Look at that-“

Bailey’s once-human face had sometime between then and now become a baby Monokuma.

Makoto _**shuddered.**_

-

Christmas fell.

Again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just wait.


	4. Mystical Multiply!?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More players. They have more players-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is no escape. Or is there?

Christmas last year, had been absurdly full of Death.

Christmas this year?

“Where are they coming from!?” Nightcrawler raged.

_Hazel._

_Montana._

_Parris._

_Cedar-_

On, and on, _and on-_

Vero gaped with a disbelieving smile.

“Unless we’re all having a fever dream, the AU Curse managed to pick up a few more”.

“This is NOT good-“

“H-hey…”

Makoto gulped as he was pinned by their stares.

“At least…no one’s dead yet?”

-

No, no one was _dead…_

But Andrea B.’s portrait had darkened noticeably in spirit.

“Who the heck is ‘Aundrea’?”

Makoto was pinned by their stares again.

Sal looked from one to the other.

“…?”

-

Alex’s portrait glowed with bright-white light, until his face was entirely obscured.

Stares intensified.

Makoto smiled nervously.

“Little help?”

-

A tiny fraction of a Token swirled into view upon the fourth, empty pedestal.

When the twosome saw it, they went absolutely **berserk.**

-

“YOU’VE GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!!!!”

“THEY’RE IN _PIECES_ NOW!!?”

“I’M GONNA **_STRANGLE_ **THAT-!!!!!!!”

“Ah! Wait-“

He rushed to keep them from blasting a hole through the Subconscious!!!!

And wound up straining his arms around both of their waists!!??

“SAL!! Come help me-“

…The lone member of their Quartet had goggle-eyes.

-

“AHHHH!?”

While his compatriot struggled to hold onto Vero’s arm upon an unscheduled dislodgment, Sal pondered his life choices.

_These guys…are like Larry when Travis opens his mouth._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Blooming Nightmare.


	5. Inside Insanity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They're not taking it well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Inside Crew is all caught up.

They didn’t stop wrestling when a portrait with ‘Sugarbelle’ across the bottom, appeared.

They stopped wrestling when a portrait with ‘Lilith’ across the bottom.

Appeared.

-

“How in the f*ing h* did they befriend Lilith!?”

“I thought she was pure evil, but maybe not?”

That was Sal’s guess…

Nightcrawler seethed.

“Or maybe she’s just lying in wait for another strike!!”

“-Or she could’ve gotten herself kicked out of her position”, Makoto posited.

“For something she did that made the Cursed God angry?”

“Do you _really_ believe that?” Vero asked.

Makoto: “…”

Makoto: “No…”

Vero sighed.

“If I had a dollar for every time I rested my case-“

-

Andrea B.’s portrait leeched of darkness.

Sal: “Knew that was coming”.

-

……………………………………………

The new wave had ended.

Makoto dropped to the ground.

“…What are we going to do?”

“You tell us”, Nightcrawler snapped, _“You’re_ the Hope”.

“Even _my_ Hope wasn’t prepared for this kind of Despair”.

Vero scoffed.

**_“I’m serious!!”_ **

The sudden shout.

It-

“Do you know. How long. It took. To get from last Christmas. To this one. Only to find. This one. Single. Piece”.

It wasn’t even a question.

“Do you know. How long. It’s going to take. To get them all. At this rate”.

It still.

Wasn’t even.

A question.

“Even if they find Token fractions at a faster pace. They could be divided anywhere from two, to three, to four, to five-perhaps even to eight”.

…

. . .

“Do you realize what this means”.

...

No one spoke.

“We’re going to be trapped. In this game. For a _lot_ longer than we were told we were supposed to”.

“…So you’re basically saying a last minute addition to the Fine Print enslaved Alice, and us by proxy, for life”.

Sal.

“That’s _exactly_ what I’m saying”.

He slowly stood up.

“It’s not just her. It’s Candy Pop. Ro- Gabbie, MatPat, Safiya, and yes. I know that most of them are there willingly. However”.

“However…” Vero prompted.

“That doesn’t mean they should _all_ be forced into this fate”.

Nightcrawler furrowed his brows.

“I hear you, but in case you forgot, we’re stuck”.

He was quiet.

Eyes roving the line of captive portraiture…

“………………………………………………………………..”

“No…I don’t think we are”.

Deliberately, he walked to Alex’s hidden picture.

He slid a hand-

Through.

-

“Come on. Let’s go”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What are you plotting over there?


	6. New Start: No More Dream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 'Dangerous' doesn't even begin to describe it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cw: Threatening, minor physical abuse, some verbal.

Vero

“What the h* is this…”

A big, white machine hummed and crackled with the same light that’d originally eaten his face.

“I have no idea, but it doesn’t look good”.

Makoto, with the most determined look on his face I’d ever seen from him, went over to the coffin-like door, and-

“Nightcrawler”.

“What?”

“I need you to shoot the hinges”.

“What”.

“Just do it”.

He shrugged, and pulled out his gun:

BANG!

**BANG!!**

Not like anyone could hear over the tremendous whirring…

“Thank you”.

With his bare hands, he strained until the whole sheet of steel came loose.

“Wh…h…”

-There he was.

Alex the Aviator.

Groggily trying to sit up, electrodes beeping alerts on his forehead-

“Easy”.

I slung an arm over his shoulder, while Makoto took the other, and Nightcrawler took the feet.

We carefully edged him out of the capsule, and he groaned…

“Hang on”.

With careful fingers, the dude severed each sucker from his mind.

“Are you okay? Do you still-“

“What…happened…”

“We just broke you out of here”, Nightcrawler deadpanned.

“Wh-what!?”

His sleepy eyes grew wide.

“No, you can’t! They’ll go after her again, if they-“

“Who will?”

“The elves…”

A grim smile spread across Makoto’s face.

Almost as if…he had something in mind.

“What does this machine do?”

“It…it…”

He rubbed his temples.

Trying in vain to remember.

“It runs this whole place…by feeding off of a person’s idealistic and innocent heart-“

“Until their heart collapses?”

Alex grimaced.

“I think…I think so…this little elf girl, they called her Sugarbelle…she was in here before me.

They said…they said her pulse was in a downward spiral, to hurry-“

“So it’s possible that they’ve murdered many more in here before either of them”, Nightcrawler mused.

He blanched.

“I didn’t think of that…”

“We need to get you out of here”.

“But-!”

“Like I said-I’ll handle it”.

A subtle head-tilt toward the glowing haze we’d entered from-

Rapidly dying out.

1…

2…

3-

“W-wait!!”

He tried to grab ahold of the edge, to pull free, but he was in the process of gaining lucidity, and at least two of us weren’t compatible with his human strength.

We carried him through the breach.

-

Sal took him into his arms.

Straining slightly under his weight and height, but you know?

We’d take what we could get.

“You’d think someone like the Cursed God would be more careful in creating paradoxes”.

“I know, right?”

I grinned.

He was supposed to die, but then got a fate worse instead.

Thereby breaking the ‘rules’ of ETN:

One always dies.

Thus, a pocket of reality-a mirror-like space from his portrait that we could use to escape this confine and carry on with our mission.

Was born.

“Guys, don’t do this-“

“You can handle things here?”

“Yeah”.

Sal smiled.

“Just…be careful out there”.

“We will”, I promised him.

“Good luck”.

“You too”.

The three of us re-crossed-

I shivered at the light-dimensional particles washing over me.

“Okay”.

Makoto nodded.

“Alex”.

“What-“

“We have to break this so no one can know that you are alive.

So that _no one_ can break into Alice’s mind and try to take you back”.

“It’ll trap us at the North Pole, and you two on the other end, but at least you’ll be safe”.

Nightcrawler sighed exasperatedly.

“Something that’s in short supply, nowadays…”

Sal gently dragged him away.

“Go for it”.

“Do I have to trust you guys!?-I have to trust you guys, don’t I”.

“Yes Wassabi".

Makoto snuck a peek over his shoulder.

“Hope you don’t mind that I'm using your last name, you're kind-of unfamiliar around here".

“I’m not offended, don’t worry”.

But ‘worry’ was written all over his face.

“Please. Don’t let them get her!!”

“We won’t”.

_-The signal._

I punched the glass, and it shattered into the abyss.

-

Makoto

“Alright”.

“Give it up already. What are you plotting?”

Nightcrawler ominously lowered his glasses.

“I want you to put me into the machine”.

“What!?”

“I want you to do it”.

Before anyone became suspicious and came down here to look-

“I want you to put me in”.

“Why?”

Vero wouldn’t be too hard to sway on-board.

I could tell from the knowing glint in his eye.

“I am pure Hope. At least, that’s what I last remember, anyway…”

I spun toward it.

“And if I am pure Hope, then I should be able to short out this machine for good”.

He broke out into an amazed laugh.

“Whoah. You sure you want to ruin children’s dreams forever?”

“Children’s dreams shouldn’t come at the expense of other peoples’ lives”.

I slid a leg inside.

“I want it destroyed so thoroughly that there is no way to ever repair it”.

Nightcrawler’s eyebrows did a 180 and lifted to the ceiling.

“What are you going to do when Santa disapproves?”

“If we can’t get him, or anyone else here to see reason…”

“Then?”

Vero broke into a devilish leer-

I let out a breath.

“Then kill them all. They are no better than Enoshima-san, and we all know what she was like".

The sound of knuckles cracking.

“My, my. You’ve gone ruthless”.

“It’s only as a last resort”, I said through clenched teeth.

I didn’t like it.

I didn’t _want_ to have anymore blood on my hands…

But this was for a noble cause.

It had to be done.

-

“Have fun in there”.

Nightcrawler lowered the lid while I finished re-attaching the wires…

I felt the drain immediately.

My consciousness was assaulted with waves of melatonin.

I struggled…to…th…

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

“Ohhh boy”.

Nightcrawler

‘Oh boy’ was right.

No sooner did we put Naegi to sleep, than the whirring picked up.

The white light crackled, and sparked, more and more, and stronger than it’d ever had under Alex’s power…

Energy counters steadily climbed until the arrows were forced to abandon their neatly-arranged circle patterns and spin-

Faster and faster and faster until you couldn’t even tell there were arrows present to begin with.

Steam erupted from pipes upon pipes, and the electricity fritzed, eye-melting-out-of-your-skull to unholy-pitch-blackness within the span of a micro-second.

Doing the same thing again a micro-second later.

“This place is about to blow-“

We both ducked for cover-

With a humanly-mechanical scream, white burst from the shell into a w _ildly-uncontrollable explo-!_

.

.

.

.

.

.

“Kyoko?”

“Makoto…”

She poked me in the forehead.

“Ow-!!”

“You dummy”.

She shook her head.

“You know you could die?”

“Yeah…”

I…had no excuse…

Flushing slightly in guilty embarrassment, I awkwardly rubbed my faintly aching head.

“-But I won’t! I have faith!!”

Raised both fists!!

“It’ll be okay!”

“………You really are impossible to bring down, aren’t you?”

She sighed.

Smiled-

“But I knew you would be”.

Her hand reached out to touch mine.

“You’re not the Ultimate Hope for nothing, after all…”

My heart split with agonizing pain.

I could care less.

“Thank you…for believing in me…”

Happiness filled me up.

And I relaxed as this dream dissolved into white noise.

“Ow…”

Painfully, I eased out of my fetal position.

“Nightcrawler?”

He was splayed out in the snow next to me.

Comatose.

“Nightcrawler!!”

I prodded him in the collar bone.

“WAKE UP-“

“WHAT IS ITTTT-“

He sat bolt upright.

“OWWWW MY BACK-“

“Mine too”, I agreed.

“What happened to Makoto?”

“Uh…”

He blinked, took off his mangled glasses, and attempted to rub the lenses.

“S*!”

Disgustedly, he threw them into a hole in the ice.

“I can’t see squat!!”

“That’s more than fine”.

I gazed at the impressive sight.

“There’s nothing there to see anyway”.

The kid had managed to blow out the entire North Pole.

-

“What do you mean, ‘nothing to see’?”

_Would you stop being cryptic already-!?_

“Let’s just say we won’t have to worry about killing Santa Claus or his Merry Elves after all”.

What.

“What do you mean ‘we won’t have to worry’? What did he do-“

“There’s a giant crater filled with water..."

Oh.

OH.

“Ohmigod…”

“Yup”.

“Well is he down there with them!?”

“Probably”.

Vero laughed bitterly.

“Dude’s plan actually worked. I can’t even believe it”.

Neither could I, to be honest.

“…Lucky thing Christmas is only eleven months away”.

“Pfft”.

We awkwardly helped each other up.

“We can’t go get him. Can we”.

“Nope”.

“Oh good. It’s just us now”.

“Yup”.

“Guess we’d better go”.

“Uh-huh”.

That’s when we heard the faint moaning.

“Oh h*…”

Vero sighed.

“Who is it…”

“I don’t know, you tell me”.

The next ten minutes were full of uneven shuffling.

“Look at that”.

“What?”

“Ol’ Sandy Claws survived”.

He was in sad shape, too.

Limbs twisted in weird directions, blood staining his once-pristine outfit.

“…”

One cloudy eyeball pleaded with us.

“Oh don’t worry. We won’t kill you-“

“…Th…ank…good…ness…”

“Yet”.

He stiffened.

I heard his bones **break.**

“You see…”

I leaned in to make sure he knew precisely how ‘in trouble’ he was.

“We’d like to know if you’re feeling bad about this whole mess”.

His head lifted ever so slightly…

“Do you?”

“Do…I…”

He gave it some thought.

“I wish…it wasn’t…necessary…”

“Why was it?” Nighty demanded.

“Because...we’re only…human…we don’t…have enough…power…to do it…ourselves…”

“So?”

“So…the Sugarplum…fairy…suggested-“

“Yeah, about that…”

_Should’ve known…._

“The Sugarplum fairy is **evil”.**

“Evil!” he gasped.

“No…”

“Yes”.

Nighty gripped his old ear, and pulled.

“Oowww-!!”

“She’s evil, and she managed to corrupt all your staff, too. Plus you…do you think tHE CHILDREN OF THE UNIVERSE WOULD LIKE THE FACT THAT YOU’RE LITERALLY KILLING OFF INNOCENTS JUST SO THEY CAN HAVE PRESENTS!!????”

“OWWWWWWWWW!!!!”

He let go, anger blazing in his eyes.

“You son of a Coal-Scraper, you’re nO BETTER THAN THE CURSED GOD!!!!”

Santa grew teary…

“I’m…sorry…”

“Do you mean it?”

Because if he _didn’t…_

He nodded, his neck flopping like a de-boned chicken.

“Okay. We’ll let you live”.

His exhale left a mythically long smoke tail.

“But if you so much as _mention_ the Sugarplum Fairy’s name and the fact that you used to be friends-and yes, I said 'used', I will _personally_ drag your red-handed a* back to what’s left of this dump, and show you a one-way trip to the sea floor!!

And I don’t think you know how to swim”.

Now do you?

He couldn’t quite properly gulp.

"D...deal".

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Karma just called. It cost you everything. And yes, I made the reference.


	7. Outside The Mind: Looking For Lov-Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meanwhile, Alice is having a time at Summer camp-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Blissful happiness. And searching.

Alice

While we were walking, I noticed that Mystic didn’t seem to be here.

I figured she'd just fell behind with Ro, or something, but-

Then, when we were only inches away-

“Has anyone seen Mystic?” Colleen pitched above the group’s chatter.

“Where’d she go?” Gabbie asked, upon looking and finding no trace-

“We can’t do this thing without her”.

“Maybe she went with Ivy?” _Ro_ said slowly.

“I don’t think she’s here, either…”

“Well, we’d better find her”.

MatPat frowned.

“I don’t think it’ll take the campers long to notice us-“

“I’ll go”, I volunteered.

“Come on!”

A hand tugged at my wrist.

Dahlia looked panicked-

“Sugarbelle!"

“Find her!!”

“Please don’t leave me…” the grip on my arm grew tighter.

“Uh…um…”

I swung my finger out from side-to-side before it finally landed on-

“Y-you can hang off of Envy for a while! You don’t mind, right?”

_Envy:_

“What?”

Cue glomp.

“Whoah-!?”

“I’m sorry!” I cried over my shoulder as I was suddenly pulled off towards camp.

-

She wasn’t in the bathroom.

She wasn’t in the mess hall.

She wasn’t in the girls’ cabin.

She wasn’t on a hill.

She wasn’t in a tree-

She wasn’t at the well…

She wasn’t at the lake side.

She wasn’t in the vegetable garden.

She wasn’t up in the big tree house.

She wasn’t in the Counselor’s office.

She wasn’t in the infirmary.

She wasn’t in that spot we’d first materialized in upon arriving here.

She wasn’t in the gift shop.

She wasn’t in the tool shed.

(Yes, we looked there).

She wasn’t speaking to the deer.

She wasn’t down the hole in the bridge.

She wasn’t even at the bus stop by the side of the road!

_Mystic…where are you!?_

How could someone just. . .disappear! So completely-

She wasn’t in the mud pit.

She wasn’t at the craft table.

She wasn’t with the farm animals…

“Oh…I give up”.

I rubbed my poor brain, exhausted from having to come up with these extremely unlikely places.

“No! Look-“

Sugarbelle sped off.

I blinked.

And then followed as fast as I could!!!

(…I almost got left behind twice).

-

How did I miss this!?

A secret clearing…

I jogged through the curtain of vines, and rushed up this new hill!

I could _just_ make out two figures cuddling…

"Hey!"

Sugarbelle got there first.

"Campfire! The....group needs....you”.

I giggled.

"Wonder what Erica would say about this”.

Mystic blushed, giving Envy decent competition in that department.

"But Sugarbelle's right. The group's wondering where you are”.

They stood up.

"How did you know where we were?"

"I didn't. I checked like twenty other spots before this”.

Did I _ever!_

"Marshmallows! C'mon, slowpokes!"

Sugarbelle proceeded to speed off into the horizon-

"Bloody ‘*l”, Ivy exclaimed.

"She's a speed demon”.

Great minds think alike.

"She's cute, though”.

"Okay, so a cute speed demon”.

I felt the giggles seize me again.

Mystic and I just couldn’t hold it in-

"Let's get going”.

She held Ivy’s hand all the way back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heigh ho, heigh ho, it's off to the campfire we go-


	8. Singin' Round The Campfire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for tunes!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh good, camp stuff.
> 
> Cw: Violence. Language.

Laughter.

Fake and forced.

"Whoopdee-doo! We have new friends!"

"Golly Gee, lookie here, you just arrived for the s'mores and campfire songs, dontchaknow!"

Poor Hecuba…crammed right in next to Carol despite everyone else’s efforts to sit themselves between.

She took out a guitar.

"Who's ready fer the campfire songs, dontchaknow?"

“HOOORAYYYYY!!!!”

Candy Pop’s eyes watered-nope, those were tears.

Then again, if I were under the same strain he was 99 percent of the time-

_Kumbaya my Lord, kumbaya._

They all started to sway on beat like reeds in the wind-

_Kumbaya my Lord, kumbaya_

_Kumbaya my Lord, kumbaya_

_Oh Lord, kumbaya._

_Dontchaknow my Lord, dontchaknow_

_Dontchaknow my Lord, dontchaknow_

_Dontchaknow my Lord, dontchaknow_

_Oh Lord, dontchaknow._

Hecuba’s twitching got worse and worse.

_Someone's singing Lord, dontchaknow_

_Someone's singing Lord, dontchaknow_

_Someone's singing Lord, dontchaknow_

_Oh Lord, dontchaknow._

Nobody I knew…

_Someone's laughing, Lord, dontchaknow_

_Someone's laughing, Lord, dontchaknow_

_Someone's laughing, Lord, dontchaknow_

_Oh Lord, dontchaknow._

Even Ro looked weirded out.

_Someone's crying, Lord, dontchaknow_

_Someone's crying, Lord, dontchaknow_

_Someone's crying, Lord, dontchaknow_

_Oh Lord, dontchaknow._

  
Dahlia.

I got up from my seat and wedged myself under Carol’s armpit.

Gave the girl a hug-

_Someone's praying, Lord, dontchaknow_

_Someone's praying, Lord, dontchaknow_

_Someone's praying, Lord, dontchaknow_

_Oh Lord, dontchaknow._

You mean like ‘please let this be over soon’?

_Someone's sleeping, Lord, dontchaknow_

_Someone's sleeping, Lord, dontchaknow_

_Someone's sleeping, Lord, dontchaknow_

_Oh Lord, dontchaknow._

_Oh Lord, dontchaknow._

Visible sighs as they all went quiet.

"Thank God that torture is over!” my Support Buddy wheezed.

"Okay everyone! Let's sing it again from the top, dontchaknow!”

Everybody tensed.

Dahlia looked like her spine had been utterly frozen into an iron bar.

-Ivy snatched the guitar!

“F* this”, Mystic called out.

"We're not singing that again. We need to get some real campfire music going”.

Music that wasn’t that song began to flow through the air…

"Let's gather 'round the campfire, and sing our campfire song.

Our c-a-m-p-f-i-r-e s-o-n-g- song.

And if you don't think that we can sing it faster then you're wrong,

but it'll help if you just sing alooong”.

Hm?

“Bum, bum, buuum..." Candy Pop chimed in.

I watched as Plant Boi began to surreptitiously edge a vine…

“C-a-m-p-f-i-r-e- s-o-n-g song.

c-a-m-p-f-i-r-e- -s-o-n-g- song,

And if you don't think that we can sing it faster then you're wrong,

But it'll help if you just sing alooong”.

-Oh, we’re faster now-

“C-a-m-p-f-i-r-e- -s-o-n-g- song

Alice!"

Ahhhhh

"Song! -c-a-m-p-f-i-r-e-"

UHHHHHHH

Mystic: "Uh.....this guy!"

Pointed to a random soul-

He…drooled and slobbered.

He just.

That’s what he did.

"Gooood!

It'll heeeelp, it'll heeeeeelp, if you just sing aloooooong!"

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I KNOW NOTHING OF SPONGE BOB!!!!

SMASH

A drum, courtesy of Candy Pop.

All over Carol’s head!!

**SMASSHHHHH!!!**

The end of Carol’s guitar.

Courtesy of Ivy.

"Oooh yeah!"

ZOOM

Off into the moonlight we ran!!!!!

-

Envy

"Did you get it?"

I held up the piece.

“H* yeah!"

Now we just had to get out of this place-

“S*!”

Mystic screamed, and stopped cold.

Her hand to her neck.

Ow-!

Something sharp-

I felt the side of my throat.

I-

I-

Falling bodies everywhere, I-stay-

Awake-

"Son of a……b*!”

She…was…out…cold…

My knees buckled.

“Whoopsie”.

Carol…leaned down…

Plucked…the dart…from her…her…

“Almost got away with it”.

I…I dug…my hand…into the…ground…

Hold myself…up…

She couldn’t…she couldn’t…get it…back…!!

“Now…”

The…campers…began to…lift…everyone…

“If I only knew who the rat was. Then-“

Bad…feeling…

“I know!”

She…clapped…her hands…like a…like a child…

“I’ll bet it was that lil’ cringing cutie”.

Oh-

No!

“I’ll have to have a heart-to-heart talk with her. You know…some real Minnesotan hospitality”.

No. Absolutely not-

“W..wait…”

It…bounced off…her face.

“Oh?”

She…rubbed…her…

“Oh, it was you!”

Kneeled…

“Well now. That can’t go unpunished”.

“Don’t…don’t hurt…her…”

“Aw, darlin’ I won’t”.

She stabbed me.

She…pulled…out the…dart…and she stabbed…me…

C-can’t…breathe…!!

My…my neck…!

“Hmm….”

Ow…my eye…

“You’re taking an awfully long time to fall asleep”.

Shrugged…

“Oh well”.

Another dart-

She left…the knife…in…

“If that doesn’t work…I have no idea”.

I…didn’t…want…to…sleep…

Who…who…would…help…!

I…by…the…time…anyone…anyone…

I'd...learned...

I...can't...stay...

...

"Oh good. I thought we were gonna have real trouble".

_I'm...faking...you...fool._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHHHHHHHHHHH


	9. Outside The AU: Meanwhile, At The End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naegi Makoto is not doing so hot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun stuff.
> 
> Cw: Death, could be taken as suicide. Take caution.

I did it.

I can’t feel my own body.

But I did it.

I have no breath.

Pretty sure I’m dead.

No.

I _know_ I’m dead.

I have to be…

So where did I end up?

My eyelids won’t lift.

-

My eyelids won’t lift.

I don’t know what’s happening, but it’s almost like someone’s there.

Watching me.

I’m not worried, though.

It’s just…this certainty I have.

Heh…

Even now, my Hope won’t quit.

-

“—“

…?

“——to”.

…

“Naegi Makoto?”

-Huh?

A finger pokes at the fleshy shutter covering my eye.

“You in there?”

Yes, I’m here…

“…Hmm…”

Minutes pass by.

I can hear a rustling, but I don’t know-

_Sigh…_

“…So that’s it”.

They…kind-of sound like they’re about to reprimand me.

“You blew out your own soul in the machine”.

…Well that’s not good.

I should be more worried, but…

“Of all the dead I have ever met over the centuries, you are the most fool-hardy”.

…You ever felt like you’ve been caught doing something indescribably dumb?

It’s…it’s like that.

Yeah…

“Wasn’t even your time to go…”

Just…just my Luck?

“So now-I have no idea what to do”.

Who’s ‘I’?

“Can’t send you anywhere if they aren’t expecting…but the dead should not be allowed to return to the living.

Unless…you would prefer to be a ghost?”

Uh-

I mean-

I wouldn’t want to accidentally get myself exorcised…

I really wouldn’t want to scare anybody, either.

But-

I would be able to meet up with Vero and Nightcrawler that way.

Continue the plan.

Somehow.

I’d also want to say goodbye to Kyoko…

…

I can’t say I don’t have any regrets, either.

“Not very talkative”.

I don’t know why that is.

My voice is kind-of just…stuck.

At the back of my throat.

A long-suffering sigh.

The kind she used to make whenever someone spoke, uhh…less than smartly about a case.

“…Do you know what this is?”

I can feel grubby fingers undoing the buttons of my shirt.

“It’s a Sephira crystal”.

Faint light beyond my eyelids.

“Metatron, to be exact”.

Metatron?

“As you are now, you are borderline a lifeless meat sack. That’s not going to change if I just let you slip off as a wayward soul”.

Thanks...

“However…”

The light closes in.

“I can’t just convert you without your consent…somehow…”

I get the hint.

I’m gonna try-

I focus on my limp hand.

I need it-to move-

It feels about as movable as concrete.

I-need-it-to-move-

It does…nothing.

The absurd image of Death(?) waiting patiently for me to twitch anything at all, fills my mind.

I feel my lip quirk.

“…I’ll take whatever at this point…”

I wonder if their work day is particularly exasperating in general, or if I am just an unusual case?

-A violent shuddering throughout my whole body as the light enters my chest.

-

Painful.

Vise-like grip spreading from the hole in my heart to every other part-of-my-

Body-

. . .

I feel this.

I-can’t-scream-

Pure-white.

Overwhelming…

**Me.**

-

“You know…” Death remarked, “The previous owner once got herself written out of a timeline.

When she did, the rejected crystal was left in Purgatory, where _I_ found it upon gathering the corpses left behind there.

Isn’t it funny?”

The beacon of radiance two inches in front of them failed to respond.

“She tried to fight, but in the end, what she wanted was lost anyway.

Yet, here _I_ am, giving you another chance to avoid your own fate”.

They shook their head.

“I suppose I should warn you-

Wherever you end up next might not be so receptive to your Hope”.

-

Gradually.

The light faded.

“Whoah…”

For a moment, a man in ethereal white robes was silhouetted in the black sky.

-Then they promptly disappeared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Even more fun stuff.


	10. Rebirth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naegi Makoto is back, and with some new upgrades.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello.

-A moment of blackness.

Followed by prolonged exposure to glaring-white light-

I grimace.

I have no idea what Death managed to do, but-

My feet touch something solid.

I try to blink the afterglow out of my eyes-

Where am I?

………………….

…This is **not** the North Pole.

I can’t believe what I’m seeing!

Buildings, everywhere, reduced to rubble.

The giant sides of a pit sloping ten feet in front of my face.

Did I-

How could I have made that!?

There’s no way…!

_When they were talking about a previous owner, just what exactly did they get into-_

Fear creeps into my veins.

It’s not for me-it’s for whomever I might have hurt.

The silence here is so ominous, I can’t help but wonder if-if I-

I killed anyone?

_Oh God, I hope I **didn’t-!!**_

Goosebumps.

Rippling over me-

?

What the-

I look down to see 95% of my body pretty much exposed.

……!!

I don’t even have to look at myself in a mirror to know.

I’m lit up like a tomato…

Thin fabric doesn’t leave much to the imagination.

_If Kirigiri saw me like this-_

-

-What would I do?

I mean-

…

_At least it doesn’t have a train that could get caught or rip off?_

I take a breath to calm my nerves…

I take another one.

_Okay._

_Time to get out of this hole._

_Make sure there isn’t anybody buried beneath the destruction._

_And then somehow reunite with my friends._

…

…I guess I _could_ call them friends now. Right?

We _have_ been through some weird shenanigans together-

Heh.

Well, first things first.

I move a foot.

Then the other.

I’m not shaky.

Nothing is numb.

I've been fully healed, clearly-

-Pebbles skid under my slipper.

“Whoah-!?”

I give a little hop to keep my balance-

Air whooshes underneath me, forming a pocket.

Bearing me up-

Shattered earth suddenly grows _very_ far away, _very_ fast, and I don’t _know how to not-!_

Head-over-heels, I flip.

Opposite foot _slamming_ into the side of an already-demolished building.

I brace for impact-

I _still_ feel nothing.

On the other hand.

The wall I toe-planted _shudders._

Then _cracks-_

Spiderwebbing out to encompass the entire side-

My shoulders tense.

-I’m waiting for it to fall-

….It doesn’t.

Sighing in relief, I try to subtly slide the shoe free.

The whole thing caves in.

“-!!”

I throw my arms up over my head -

Empty space.

Surrounds me.

My stomach flutters with free fall, and it doesn’t help that I can’t even tell where I am through the dust.

-My back slams into ground.

I'm not numb this time-

Pain throttles through my spine.

Soars into the nape of my neck, and thumps hard at the base of my skull.

…So _that_ wasn’t what I had in mind…

I wince, and grit my teeth.

Slowly roll over…

Wiping the dirt from my eyes, I squint to see-

Yup…it’s gone.

Three-quarters of a building, reduced to smithereens.

I-

_I swear I didn’t mean to!_

….What’s that noise?

Whirring-

**North.**

_Wait, how did I-!?_

I look in the direction it’s coming from.

Black dots on the horizon-and I can easily make out what they are.

Or rather, who.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Get to see some power in action, maybe.


	11. Outside The Mind: Brainwashed In Happy Sunshine Land

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The need to GET OUT is right now.
> 
> Cw: Language, heavily-censored. Brainwashing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And back to the Dream Team we go.

Envy

I wanted _badly_ to fight back as they strapped me down.

I couldn’t move…still…

They yanked out the knife, and _I almost blew my cover._

Taped something over the hole…

My senses swam.

But. Not. **Yet.**

…………………………………

“What the-“

“Where are we!?”

“I want to get out of here!”

***Faint sounds of crying***

Poor Hecuba...

“Ow…”

-Alice.

“Mystic! Wake up!”

"Wha.....where are we?"

"Yer in my lab dontchaknow!"

…That voice was beginning to **grate-**

"No more. _Please_ no more 'dontchaknows…”

…Very glad she wasn’t awake to hear what could’ve happened.

"Okay, you crazy b*! What the f* do you want with us?”

-That was definitely Candy Pop.

"Oh, we wantcha ta join our little community, dontchaknow!"

"Um, what makes you think we'll want to?”

_Please be careful-_

"Once the brain implants are implanted and activated, they'll make ya be more than happy ta join us, dontchaknow”.

Oh **h*** no.

"So you wanna turn us into mindless smiling zombies?"

"Oh ya make it sound so terrible, dontchaknow. I prefer the term happy campers, dontchaknow”.

Gloss over it however you want-

“Same s*!”

"I don't wanna be part of this camp! I've got a job in the real world. My boss is gonna kill me if I don't show up!"

"Really? _That_ is your biggest concern?”

"It's a valid one!"

"But not exactly important to this s* right now”.

"Mind your language please”.

"Mystic has been throwing around the F-word casually the past 13 installments-I think that Jaiden saying the word ’s*’ is pretty tame by comparison”.

-Do we really have time to worry about this!?

"It won't take long anyhow, dontchaknow. Just a little pinch, then a shock, and then you're happy as a clam, dontchaknow. Well, have fun, dontchaknow”.

-And that word can go jump in a lake.

…………………..

I heard her leave…

Sounded like she’d left a couple of her ‘campers’ busy with something mechanical.

"Looks like it's time to tango on out of here. Ivy, Envy, you awake?”

…..I hope so.

"I never went to sleep…It takes more than _that_ to make me sleep”.

Depending on the circumstances, anyway…

"I didn't eivver: I been infected wif cocktails a sedatives, poisons, 'allucinogenics, an' mind control drugs, sometimes all at the same time. That dart ain't s*”.

What.

“O-okay, you're gonna have to tell me all of this later”.

“-Are your vines free?”

-It was a good question…

I tested their pull-

They stuck to my sides, but-

"Not exactly, but I can still use them”.

“Same 'ere”.

"Okay, you two get yourselves out, then move onto the rest of us”.

-Uh, yeah, about that.

I pried Alice free as a similar thunk echoed from Ivy’s side.

“Thanks, Envy”.

"Thanks, Ivy”.

"No problem, love”.

They hurried to free everyone else, and I started to work on my own bindings-

_Come on-_

_Let-_

**_Go!!_ **

Candy Pop

"Good golly goshings! They got out--!"

No duh, Sherlock.

Mystic threw herself headfirst into the glass.

THUD.

"There's a door right there”, Ines helpfully pointed out.

“Oh”.

Carol couldn’t be bothered to lock the doors, hah-

She was all over the first f*r who dared to get in her path.

Dogpile.

Elbows were being flung and I could plainly catch the scratching noises from here.

“F* you, creepy campers!"

Cedar followed example, and snagged somebody’s neck.

"Uhhh.....am scared-Am a very, very scared bear-“ Bailey fretted.

Oops-

Alice swooped them up, and passed them along to Envy, who abruptly deposited them in a corner.

_-Guess we know where we’ll be guarding with our lives, huh?_

Magic blue blasts, and vines whipping everywhere, I stuck to that place like glue.

"Take that, Stepford Smilers!"

"This is for all of those stupid dontchaknows!"

Dahlia got her revenge-

Smacked their heads together.

M, and S were non-lethally fighting them while R added in little hits in the gaps.

Liza whacked one over the head with a potted plant-

“-Taylor, get your a* in here!"

-Ey?

….Huh. She was in the corner the whole time?

"Seems like you have a handle on things”.

"Not really!"

Silvia, Erica, and Tristen were doing border-cover, and those arms were getting harder to swat.

“Ditto-“ Parris, Hyacinthe, Jaiden on the other end-

"These campers have as bad a bite as a bark, if not worse”.

"Just keep trying”.

"We don't have time for trying”, Montana snapped, "Everyone's gotta do something”.

"Orpheus isn't doing anything”, she reflected-

-Oh come on, dude.

_You’re gonna hide under the control panel?_

"Why are you just going for me?"

"I'm hiding to save my a*, bitch, I'm not much of a fighter”.

"What if I'm not much of a fighter either?"

"Will you two shut up?" Wynter yelled at them, “Arguing can come later. Right now we've got zombie campers on our a*”.

"I wish we had Nanami-san”, the kid said quietly.

"I'm glad we don’t”, Jaiden sniffed.

-I just want to know if she’s still alive in Creepytown.

Is that too much to ask-

**THUD**

Okay, what-

Rene had somebody pinned-

"Not so tough now, are you?"

Something fell out of the camper’s ear.

“…What the h*?”

-Thuds rang out like wildfire.

More campers down/up against the wall-

“What’s going on-“

“Where am I?”

“Who are you-“

"Don't let her go-It could be a trap”.

"No s*, really?"

“-Who the h* are you?"

Confused silence.

"Don't play dumb-I asked you a question; who the h* are you?"

"I'd like to ask you the same question…I'm Trigorin”.

"I'm Sequoia. What do you remember?"

"I don't know, I was brought to this camp, I felt a pinch and a zap. Next thing I know, I'm here”.

…..Ooh, yikessss, that could’ve been us-

"So they fell victim to Carol, huh?"

"Unless it's a trap”.

"Hey, hey! Cool it-I'm Thanasis. I remember just as much as Trig does”.

They were anxious, and no wonder-the death stare was upon them, and it was effective, to say the least.

"Who the f* names their kid Trigorin?"

“Clearly someone with a love of Chekhov”, Mystic defended.

"Yeah, my parents are big theatre fanatics”.

"I am the seagull!"

Good for you-

"...Who the f* is this?"

"Oh…I’m Nina. Where's Trigorin?"

_You **should** be embarrassed-_

"Nina! You okay?”

"Did you not just hear her reference? She's right there”.

"Okay, as much as I love meeting everyone”, Londyn cut in-

"We've got a b* named Carol to stop”.

-A groan.

"Is that Sybille?"

"Thanny? What happened?"

"Sybille!"

"Who all are you?”

_I don’t think that came out right, Mystic-_

"I'm Sybille, I don't know how long I've been here---is that Joey Graceffa?"

"Joey?"

Oh God-

We had _more!?_

"Don't tell me”, Dooper echoed, “More ETN writers?"

"Probably just to create filler for the chapters”, Stella hand-waved.

"Oh, a meta joke”, Tristen realized.

"I don't think I've heard one of those in a while”.

"Seriously, I need whatever drugs you're taking”, he huffed.

"I sympathize with Dooper”, Lennox agreed, “A lot of us can barely get a word in edgewise”.

"We can argue about that later!"

Lucy looked annoyed.

"We need to find Carol”.

"Why?"

"Because she probably took the token piece from us”.

-Cue green blush.

He looked like he’d said something very stupid.

"Token piece?"

If question marks could float above peoples’ heads-

"Long story”, Ines told her, “Let’s get going”.

And so we did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Where's Carol?


	12. Inside the Mind: Post-Camp Icebreaker

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the new cast members roll in, Sal and Alex are left to figure things out on their own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Somebody's getting caught up.

It was obvious.

Too obvious, almost-

Alex would stare at the wall.

Then the floor.

Then the ceiling.

Then his own cracked-out portrait.

Chewing on his lip…

Eyes flicking occasionally to the face across from him-

Then immediately smiling awkwardly and cheeks growing flushed if caught.

He didn’t need to say any words.

He wondered what had happened to leave such deep scars, like every other person he had ever met.

….But it would be rude to ask aloud.

So they just sat there.

In awkward silence.

Not saying anything about anything at all.

……………………………….

At least, until-

“What the-!?”

The Aviator about fell over in surprise!

Sal stood, having already seen something like this before-

New portraits.

Sprouting to life. . .

Three main ones, with smaller, more obscure ones peppered in-between the usual suspects.

Three mains:

‘Trigorin’, ‘Thanasis’, ‘Nina’.

And one extra.

‘Sybille’.

“What…what does that mean?”

“It means that this sick game just picked up another group of pawns”.

“Wait…”

He connected the dots in his mind.

“So-“

He tried to get up, and failed.

“Those frames-whatever changes there represents what’s going down from where I-?”

“Yeah, you’d be right”.

………He digested this truth.

“…….That’s……so you can tell who’s died from here”.

“Yeah”.

“………How?”

“……..I don’t know”.

Sal grimly smoothed a patch of fabric that had come loose from the recent jostling.

“-Where are we, exactly?”

“….You’re in one of the authors’ minds-“

“Um….I remember you guys said that-“

He rubbed his unfeeling legs.

“It’s just…”

Winced.

“Do they all-“

“Appear like this?”

“Yes”.

“It might be different for others. That’s something I don’t know, personally”.

“…………..Whoah….that’s kind-of cool in a really weird way”.

“…”

“…I don’t think I ever caught your name?”

“Sal Fisher. -You might know me better as Sally Face-“

“Sally Face?”

“It’s a computer game”.

“Oh cool”.

“An alternate universe-type of thing”.

“Nice”.

“…”

“…..If there are new ‘pawns’ now…does that mean-“

“That at the rate you were and still are, going, you’ll have enough players to keep the Token Hunt in progress for a long, long time”.

…………………………..

He took off his goggles.

Rubbed at the lenses with his jacket flap.

Cogs turning in his brain a thousand miles a minute-

“…….That doesn’t seem like it’s good”.

“It’s not-you might never see Lauren again for a while…or maybe even until this place transcends forever. Or dies out. Whichever hits first-“

“And she’ll never know that I’m still alive”.

……………………………..

“…..Oh great”.

“If we can get to her, it won’t be a problem”.

“Here’s hoping she’ll be lucky-“

_Like me._

Unspoken, but they both knew-

“…What would they do if someone else realized that I wasn’t dead?”

“…..They would find a way to kill you”.

“Even from in here?”

“We had the Sugarplum Fairy break in once…”

“The Sugarplum Fairy?”

“I didn’t know she was evil, either”.

“…Okay then”.

He cracked his knuckles.

“….Do you know how long it will take for my limbs to work again?”

“I have no idea…”

“….Oh boy”.

The awkward smile had returned.

“The fun times never end…”

“I guess so”.

Along with the silence.

“……Is there a way to see what’s going on out there?”

“I wouldn’t recommend trying it now-the opposite of Deus Ex Machina is always in effect in this world.

You might just be discovered, and/or worse”.

“Oof”.

“Yeah…”

_I just hope even talking about it **away** from all ears isn’t enough to put it into play._

-His knuckles rapped on wood.

A silver flash rocked the tiny room, and he struggled to keep his balance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New person?


	13. Holiday Risk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Is their cover blown, or isn't it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Christmas is refusing to let go.

_Who the-!?_

Alex didn’t think this day _could_ get any wilder!

_Who is this-!?_

She was pretty tall.

Long, brown hair in a ponytail over her shoulder, eyes snapping with an energy that made him nervous.

Her red dress reminded him of somewhere else he’d seen mistletoe with white trim-

A set of fairy wings fluttered out from behind her.

“….Are you the Sugarplum fairy?”

“No”.

“Who are you then?” Sal asked.

“Holly. The Christmas fairy. Who are you”.

“Hi, I’m Alex-“

“Sally Face…”

He was frowning.

“Aren’t you from…a book series?”

“I wouldn’t know about that…”

She held her wand out inches from their noses.

“But I _do_ want to find out who is responsible for the destruction of the North Pole”.

“In that case, you’re in the wrong spot”.

“If so, then what is _he_ doing here?”

From Sal to Alex.

“I know he was there-“

“How?”

He stepped in front.

“Did you have any idea what they were doing?

That they would’ve killed him?”

“Killed? No-“

“Then how”.

“I used the Seeing Pool after Santa’s frightened reindeer flew in-they’re always spelled to shield from conditions that could mean their death, otherwise they could wreck before they made it anywhere at all”.

The muscle in his jaw tightened.

“And then what? You just teleported in?”

“Yes…”

“You’re still in the wrong place”.

Alex was used to tension.

But _this_ much?

“They’re in the North Pole right now”.

“And how do you know that?”

“Because I saw them go back there myself”.

“….You don’t seem like a liar-“

“Because I’m not”.

“…Very well”.

She waved her wand, and silver sparkles flew-

“I’ll be on my way”.

“Wait”.

“Huh-“

“You have to erase it”.

“Erase what?”

-He immediately realized.

“The memory of what you saw in the pool.

H*, maybe even your _own_ memory-“

“Why?”

“Because Alex’s life could be in danger if even a shred of the truth survives”.

“…..In danger from whom?”

“I don’t know…but I’m sure there’d be someone”.

She searched Sal’s face…

“…..I can take it up with Queen Titania-“

“Involving other people is a bad idea…unless they know too…”

“They do”.

“Then yeah. I would have them erase their memories of it as well”.

“…………Okay….”

This lady was oddly willing to trust.

Then again-

He’d once been that way, hadn’t he?

“But I’ll still have to tell them of what befell poor Santa”.

“-I wouldn’t call him ‘poor’ just yet. Not until you have the full story”.

Alex smiled grimly.

_Her pedestal’s gonna break real fast._

She looked down at her wand.

It was still sparkling.

“…Alright. Have a good day, gentlemen…”

-She disappeared with a POOF!

Sal exhaled.

Exhaustedly.

Alex felt his shoulders relax.

“That was pretty close”.

“It could’ve been worse…I’m just hoping it won’t _get_ worse”.

He knocked on the wooden frame.

“Me either…it’d be nice to have some good luck for a change”.

……Even so…

“…If she could just appear like that…how long until someone else does?”

-Now _that._

Was a sobering thought.

“Any way to keep it from happening?”

He tried to keep the nervous tremors out of his voice.

“…I don’t know”.

“You don’t?”

“No-we’ve never had to deal with this before”.

His eyes narrowed.

“Though I should’ve known…after _she_ showed up-“

“The Sugarplum Fairy”.

“Yeah”.

“….Okay…so we just…look for a way?”

“Easier said than done”.

Alex pondered.

“Well…you saved me. I think that might’ve been considered ‘easier said than done’, too”.

“True”.

Focusing hard, he willed his toes to twitch.

They did.

“…Maybe we can find it”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> But maybe there's hope.


	14. Outside The AU: Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Past to present and future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cw: Death implied.

‘Holly?’

I looked to where she was pointing.

‘Is that-?’

My blood ran cold.

Silver sparkles swirl and then fade.

The chill bites into my arms-

Despite the red, wool dress I have on.

‘Where are they?’

I’d brought myself here-

I flew from the tower, India waiting behind nervously.

'Dasher! Dancer!'

They galloped to meet me.

'Prancer and Vixen…'

I felt them jostle for space.

'Comet, Cupid-'

Their eyes shone with fear.

'Donder and Blitzen?'

What-

One last snout appeared in my view, red nose glowing brightly with distress.

'Rudolf?'

What had happened?

It’s easy to see where Santa’s Workshop had once been.

The giant, ice-blue pond sprawling for miles from the center of the snowy plane is a big clue.

Frowning slightly, I descend to its edge.

No sign of any survivors…

Not even any elf….bodies….floating-

As horrible as it is to think about.

I shudder.

Tears prick my eyes, I just can’t quite believe-

I wouldn’t call him poor just yet. Not until you have the full story.

'What!?'

What did I hear-

‘We saw it’, Rudolf explained to me, ‘We saw the Workshop crumble around us, go up in white flames!’

‘It was horrible…’ Cupid shook.

'Who would do something so awful…'

‘We know’.

Donder’s eyes were as red as the nose.

‘We can tell you, but-‘

“What is it, Donder?”

‘….I don’t know if it was even real’.

Prancer shied…

'It’s okay”, I reassured them, “It’s okay'.

‘No it’s not!!’ Vixen shouted, ‘Christmas might be ruined forever because of what they did-‘

'It’ll be okay'.

In my mind, I was already making plans to meet with the King and Queen.

'For now…'

I gently guide them all to the Fairy Green.

'Let’s see about getting you settled into the stables'.

As sure as I am of Christmas strength,

a path to the true culprits,

please Christmas magic make.

I speak the rhyme, and the white powder glitters.

Oddly enough, there’s another trail leading straight up from the lake.

Someone destroyed the North Pole'.

Yes…it is what they told me'.

They exchanged grave glances.

'…Perhaps we should bring them to the Seeing Pool', she suggested.

'Yes, that seems to be a good plan'.

He put a hand on my shoulder.

'Holly…..if this is him, again…..we will want to be as careful as possible. It could be that he has stepped over the dark side personally, although I hate to even entertain the idea'.

King Oberon’s face had grown ashen.

'…..'

Me too.

Following the sparkle path, I see three dots among the white, shining snow:

One dark, one gray, and one….red.

……I fly down-

“Hi”.

The hooded man waves.

“‘Bout time someone found us”, the other man huffs.

“You knew I was coming?”

“No, but we thank you anyway”.

Santa groans.

“….Holly-!”

“You know her?”

“Yes-“

“Did you know about the elves?”

Red eyes judge me.

“No….No I didn’t-“

The full story?

“No I….don’t”.

I let out a breath.

“-But I would like to hear….if you’re willing to come back to my world”.

“Which is?”

“Fairyland”.

The two uninjured give each other weary looks.

“…..Okay. If it’ll get you to not break this-“

-Then something occurs to them, I can see the light bulbs flash.

“Your name is Holly?”

“What do you do?”

“I’m the Christmas fairy-“

They exchange knowing grins.

“…..What is it?”

Magic whisked into the Pool, and its waters cleared:

Who are they?

….

Three figures bright against the gleaming steel, breaking open a white pod.

The aviator goggles.

I would have to remember those-

They vanished in a thin shimmer…

Then they shut someone back inside.

……….Two figures scrambled for cover-

The resulting spray whooshed into our faces!?

I coughed, and flicked water from my forehead-

. . . ..

Santa’s Workshop . . .

**Gone.**

“You can take over”.

'….This is horrible', the Queen intoned.

'Who are these young men?'

The King had become even more pale-

'………I……..do not know-'

I was shivering in horror.

The reindeer watched, grim-

What we had just witnessed-

'I do not know, but fully intend to find out'.

'Perhaps Rachel and Kirsty could help?'

Queen Titania mused…

'…….If we’re dealing with-'

I gulped.

'Murder-'

'It will be dangerous for you to confront them on your own', the King warned.

'I know……'

But-

'I don’t want them to die, either………'

What we had been speaking of.

It felt-

Surreal.

Unreal.

A bad dream-

Our very first.

I swallowed.

'…….At least I will have my wand with me'.

They seemed to mentally speak to each other.

'………Be careful, Holly'.

'But you do not have to go it alone-we could send some fairies along with you also'.

'…………………'

That was a good idea….

'Okay. But if it’s too obvious, they might lash out'.

…….I look out at the peaceful plains of my home, having brought them all here at once.

Take over……

Knowing what I now know.

It’s either that, or history repeats.

-

“It’s been a couple of months”.

“………”

I almost can’t believe it.

Then again…

Different worlds, different timezones?

“A lot has changed”.

“…Yeah, that’s definitely a given-“

I tug at my Astral dress self-consciously.

Still haven’t exactly gotten the hang of this whole thing.

“You helped my….friends.....here?”

Yeah, I guess they are now-

“Yes. When I found out what’d been done-“

My face flares bright-red.

“…..Sorry-“

“No, don’t be”.

She sighs.

“After everything we missed….it’s too late to dwell, anyway…”

Sad sparkles drip from her wand.

“Are the three of them…still here?”

“Santa, is”.

A small smile crosses her face.

“The King and Queen decided that for now, this place would be the safest for him…that, and he’s supposed to be getting counseling for the whole Sugarplum fairy incident”.

“Oh…”

“Yeah”.

Despite the bright sunshine, I feel a chill.

“And Vero is back in the mind-“

“You sent him there?”

“Yes…”

“What about-“

“……….They needed time to themselves...and they were gone this morning when I checked”.

“….Did something happen, or-“

“They split”.

“…………………”

Oh.

“Although I have _also_ heard he’s found love again, so that’s good-“

I nod.

“So….did anything else happen while I was gone?”

“Actually, from what I understand, things have been rather quiet around here, Naegi-san”.

Phew.

“-Mind if I ask how _you_ got here? I was under the impression that you were….how do I put this-“

“Dead?”

“Yes”.

“Well……”

I awkwardly rub my head.

“It kind-of started when the flying team showed up……….”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to MamaDevil for stopping by!
> 
> Stay safe everybody.


	15. Ou ts I de t H e    Bunker

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Search For Carol Is On

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cw: Language.

Alice

Bright-red exit lights led straight to the stairs.

“Come on-“

“Hurry-!!”

Running footsteps blended together into white noise.

Whoever was in front shoved the doors open wide-

It had been night when we were taken, hadn’t it?

At least close to it-

Now, bright sunshine shone.

“Okay everyone, fan out:

There’s no telling where she could’ve disappeared to-“

“-And _be careful”,_ Penelope emphasized.

“Yeah!”

“Okay-“

“You got it”.

“Don’t go anywhere alone, and be sure there’s more than five people with you at all times”.

Dahlia gulped, and found my arm.

Support Buddies…..

“Sure thing”, Candy Pop grimaced-

“If I see her, I’m kicking her stereotypical a* into the Lake”, Nikita promised.

“Same”.

Bretman angrily un-ruffled his precious jacket.

“Wait, but how will we know if anyone’s actually found her or not?” Teala wondered.

“-We send someone to ring the Camp Bell?”

Ro pointed to a looming tower in the distance.

“Sounds good!”

Roi grinned.

“-Good luck everyone….” I said.

“We’re going to need a miracle”, DeStorm cracked drily.

“Don’t act so defeatist about this already!”

Mystic chastised him-

“We need that Token piece-“

“-Should we set up search groups?” Andrea R. cut in.

“Good idea”.

(I hopped on the spot, feeling anxious).

“-Well naturally, Manny, Bretman, and I will be a Team”.

The three Beauty YouTubers linked arms.

“I’ll be with Roi, and Jc-“

Teala’s face fell.

“Oh nononono-I was about to say you too, sweetie, don’t worry”, Colleen rapid-fire apologized-

“I’ll be with Ro and Saf”, MatPat declared.

“You want to join up with us?” the Disco Dancer-turned-Duchess offered?

“Yeah, why not”.

“-Meanwhile, I’ll ally myself with the three of you here”, DeStorm drawled.

“I’m coming too”, Gabbie decided.

“I’ll be with Tyler!” Tana volunteered.

“Aw, thank you-“

“Don’t forget me!” Lauren scrambled.

“Cool. This Little Brown Girl is in!”

Liza smiled.

“And I as well”, Alison finished.

“We need one more-“

“I’ll be with you”, Joey said.

“Oli, want to be partners?”

“Oh…yeah”.

“Wait-“

“Come on over, Sierra-“

“I’m with you too-“ Justine announced-

(I was starting to feel a headache coming on).

“Now y’all aren’t leaving without me”, GloZell huffed, scurrying over to the S1 crew-

“I’ll be with whomever”, Andrea B. shrugged.

“We need another”, Eva counted-

“Okay then”.

“They got together by Season!!” Erica gushed-

“You mean, most of them did”.

Orpheus gave her the side-eye.

“Shhhh!! Just let the magic happen-“

“-Really now. This isn’t the time!” Penelope scolded.

“Oh yeah, because _you’re_ the one-“

“I’m afraid she’s right”, Lilith added.

“…….You three are no fun”.

The shipper pouted-

Mystic sighed.

“Must be a lot of fun at parties”, C.P. whispered out of the side of his mouth.

Envy shifted uncomfortably.

“The more time we waste, the further away she gets-“

(I rubbed my stinging face

.

.

.

…..?

I sit up.

My head hurts-

-!?

The Med Bay…..?

Huh…

Didn’t we-

*The door creaks*

“Hello? Is someone there? Envy, please tell me that’s you!”

-Because if it isn’t…

“S*!”

-That’s not him.

Someone runs this way, and I scramble out of the bed, knocking my shin off of the metal railing-

She.

Stands in the door.

"Who…”

I blink the fog out of my eyes.

“Mystic...that's you, right?"

.

.

.

My foot slid out from under me, and I tripped flat on my face.

“Alice!?”

Arms were immediately helping me up.

I blinked in confusion-

“…..Envy?”

“Are you okay!?”

-Candy Pop’s laughing echoed from somewhere up ahead.

“That was the best spill I have EVER seen-“

“……I’m okay”.

My head had stopped hurting.

“……”

I turned from one side to the other.

“….Where are we?”

Envy sighed-

“We….got separated-“

“We did!?”

“Yup”.

The Demon walked back toward us.

“How-“

“Tree fell down”.

“Huh-“

“You didn’t hear it?”

Green eyes watched me curiously-

“No”.

I stumbled a little-

“Whoah, careful-“

“Twist something?”

“N……o….?”

My feet felt fine-

“Aftershocks?” C.P. suggested.

“No…”

-A dart whizzed past my nose.

“Oh no you _don’t-!”_

Blue eyes gained a violet tinge.

-Envy yanked me up and out of the way of the next one-!!

“Give up, Spawn of Satan-!!!”

The Plant Man knocked away a third one with his vines!

“Carol-“

More darts-

I thrust out a hand, and obliterated them with blue dream light.

“-!!”

A startled exclamation?

-Running.

“After her!”

He was all set to just race off-

“Wait”.

He was caught by the back of the collar.

“Oh come on! What are we waiting for!?”

“You can’t run off alone”.

“-Well then be faster next time!!”

Envy’s eyebrow twitched.

“Um….I think she’s getting away?”

They both looked to me.

“Let go-“

“Don’t push-!!”

“Candy Pop!?”

-We raced off after him.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

“Nowhere left to run-“

“That’s what you think, dontchaknow?”

“No, we don’t”, Envy replied in a deadpan.

….She ignored him, and prepared to jump into a motor-powered canoe.

I panicked, and shot a stream of fiery at it-

The motor exploded into blue-white flame.

“Criminy!!”

Plastered to the dock with the recoil, she dizzily rolled over. . .

“The Token piece!!”

He snatched it up with another vine!

“We’ll be taking that-“

-A second piece fell out of her breast pocket.

“What the-!?”

C.P.’s jaw dropped to the ground!!

-Carol’s hand clamped over the next vine.

She _yanked-_

“-!!”

He landed in the water with a splash!!!

“Envy!?”

The corrupt counselor stood and re-pocketed the coin.

“Now this one’s mine.

Dontchaknow?”

**WHOOSHHHHHHH-!!!**

**_RIP_ **

Her jacket blew into the wind, and a sharp needle stabbed into the wood!

I scurried forward to scoop the Token fraction into my palms-!!!

“‘Ey, Carol!”

Ivy, Mystic, Andrea R., and Calliope exited the woods from the other side-

“Fink yeh should’ve fought before yeh tossed my brovver!!”

………Envy re-surfaced, hair in his face.

Awww.

“…..Did….you……?”

He pulled himself onto the bank, sopping wet.

Ivy snickered.

“Yeah, I got ‘er-“

Carol swiped the cutlass.

Brandished it at my neck-

“You’re reaching, Carol, don’thurther-“ Mystic breathed-

CRACK-!

The woman stiffened.

…

Sank anti-climactically to her knees-

My head **rang.**

…

She flopped to the ground, a bump forming upon the back of her skull.

“………..”

Andrea R. checked for a pulse-

“…..I think she’s okay?”

“What hit her!?” C.P. gasped.

“This”.

She lifted a large rock from the ground.

“But….”

I tried to find my voice-

“But how-“

“Slingshot”, Calliope replied.

We craned our necks to see where the blow had come from.

No avail….

“Come out!!” Ivy called.

“Yeh’re no coward are yeh!?”

The trees were silent.

-Sugarbelle sped ahead.

“Huh-!?”

-Mystic ran after her too.

“!? Love wait-“

Then Ivy.

“……..Guess we’re going to ring the bell”, Andrea R. supposed.

“Let me help you with her, dear-“

“Thanks Calliope”.

“Figures”, Candy Pop hmphed.

Envy wrung water through his hair.

“…………..”

I was torn-

“Come on guys”, Andrea pitched over her shoulder.

We turned to go-

.

.

.

**Somebody was standing behind me-**

I spun.

“….See something?” my plant friend asked.

“…………”

I scanned the area with my eyes, looking for anything suspicious-

“…..No”.

We left.

. . . .

_She saw them go._

_. . . ._

_Her leg still burned from where the Token had been scratched free._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Wednesday!


	16. Fill In The Blanks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To clear up details.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cw: Implied blood, maybe death, the word 'crazy' and synonyms.

“Oh no-!”

Cinna nearly was lost under the rushing of feet-

Bear body spun around and around in fast circles like a top!!

“Ooooooo-“

Their tiny paws gripped at their poor, poor head….

“Um-“

They jumped at the crack in the dirt.

A perfect, spider-webbed, star-

Orange light burned out of it, but no one else saw.

“Oh?”

It disappeared, but the scar remained.

“…..Um…………?”

They hurried to catch up, worried, but-

_Tripped-_

Hands caught them.

-They looked up, and their eyes **widened.**

*

A crack burned under her feet.

She looked down to see the orange light spilling into the grass-

Something exploded with a thunderous **BANGGG**

Knocked sideways, the girl fell to the ground-

She creeped into the bushes, hands bleeding from the impact.

-Another crashing, only this time, it was:

The earth shook once more.

The girl pulled herself to a wild-card crouch-

Stilled.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Breath coming in quick bursts, she stood up.

Wiped her palms on her yellow dress-

“Oh boy! A new camper-“

-She jumped out of her skin.

Rough fingers gripped her arms, and then spied the piece of gold wrapped so precariously…

The indent showing beneath sunshine fabric.

“-Pardon me deary, but is that what I think it is?”

“-?”

-Someone’s laughter echoed throughout the woods.

“-Never mind, time to cut and run, dontchaknow!?”

She flashed a saccharinely-deranged smile before diving like an Olympic swimmer, and coming up for air with a snapped string.

“-!”

Pain flared in her leg-

She could feel it trickling down.

“Thank you kindly, dontchaknow!”

“No-“

Dust kicked in her wake.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Limping after her, she jabbed her elbow-

Softer snap.

Branch.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

She broke off another branch, and bound them.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Mobïus strip for the sling.

*

“Michael!???????”

They would know that characteristic smirk _anywhere-!!!!!_

“Hello, Cinnabear~!”

They were **floored-**

“Where did you come from-“

“I lurk….occasionally”.

“Hshahhah-“

“Annnnnd I was RIGHT!”

“Wha-“

A purple, booted foot prodded the crack.

“Someone had to stretch the Dreamverse for this one-“

“Wha-“

“I’ll explain later, we need to catch up with certain peoples, yes?”

“…..Okay”.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

(Bailey’s 0 thoughts, head empty-)

-

“-Whoah!”

He moved to avoid the repeated missile effect of dart shots-

With a clear tearing warning, a bit of his cloak flapped loose.

Darkness sparked off, and ripped through the base of a tree-

…

Snapping, crackling, still going.

Almost imperceptible, except to a few.

……………

_They handled it on their own, I see……._

Now where was———

He quickly faded into the shadow of a tree as three figures ran by.

Bailey squirmed to glance.

&

…

Following the panicked voices.

‘I keep them handy fire bombs close to the road, dontchaknow? Just in case we get them axe-crazy, psycho killers, dontchaknow?’

“Roi-“

“Wake up, Roi-“

“Why isn’t he waking up-“

“Teala, don’t-“

“WHY ISN’T HE WAKING UP!?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Thursday!! <3 <3 <3 : DD


	17. Rabbit Hole

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The truth is scarier than fiction.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cw: Mind screw. Mind trauma.

Alice

“Okay guys”, Andrea R. puffed.

“Let’s hope Carol left the door unlocked like she did her rip-off laboratory”.

“I can check”, I offered…..

“Sure”.

Walking up to the metal handle, I pulled-

It wouldn’t budge.

“No luck”.

“-Okay then”.

The Mystic wracked her brains.

“If I were a depraved Camp Counselor where would I hide a key?”

“Under the flowerpot?” Envy supposed.

“How much do we underestimate her stupidness”, C.P. wise-cracked.

“Aren’t any flower pots here”, Andrea mused….

“Mayhaps outside of her personal cabin”, Calliope surmised.

“Who wants to go check and look?”

“We can do it-“ I said-

“Good luck child”.

“Thank you….”

We set off….

I sincerely hoped this wouldn’t turn into an impromptu Clocktower game.

***

“Hey, Alice….”

“Yeah?”

He was looking at me with concern-

“….About what occurred back there-“

“Which?”

“You…falling like that, and then-“

“Oh”.

Well…….

“I don’t really know what that was…”

“Lost in a daydream?”

Candy Pop had an odd expression on his face.

“No……?”

“No?”

“I don’t know……………”

I felt my head.

“I kind-of just….had an ache crawl up my skull, and then I was……somewhere else?”

“You never left us-“

“Physically?”

Envy tilted his head, trying to put the pieces together in his mind, I could tell-

“Wait-“

C.P. was trying to do that too.

“Wait, what-“

“It…..could have been-“, the Plant Man started off haltingly- “But....that’s also highly unlikely-“

“What is?”

“Alice…….”

“Huh?”

“Someone may have been trying to abduct you from this reality”.

“What!?”

“Who?” C.P. wondered-

“I don’t know, but….”

His expression turned to worry-

“But it could have a number of potentially dangerous side effects”.

“Like what?”

I was starting to become a little scared-

He gave me a worried look.

“Like…..well. Depending on how strong the force, if you’re unused to it, you could end up disoriented or confused”.

“-You implying that’s why she made that epic wipe-out?”

“Candy Pop-“

“Just checking-“

He winced.

“….Well it should’ve faded by now, right?”

Envy still looked worried.

“Depends. If they reached into your mind, and you weren’t prepared-“

“Then what?”

“Then……..”

“Then?”

“Then………….you might’ve retreated into a lucid-dreaming state out of shock-“

“What-“

Candy Pop.

“Wait. Wait, but…if that’s true, then-“

None of this was real?

***

Michael

She figured it out.

This false reality dissolved like a burnt photo in ten seconds flat.

Not that she'd like where she was about to end up any better........

Nor would she even be able to remember it properly for a while if I **_was_** right.

"What's happening-"

Ah.

The bear.

"Sorry friend, but this is where we get off".

They and the world turned black.

....

Just one more stop to make, and one last thing to check now.

.

.

.

Alice

_H-huh-_

_What happened-_

I blinked the spots out of my eyes.

_Why am I tied up-!???_

-Carol.

Looming over like a scary vulture-

_My head **hurts-**_

"Alice? Are you alright-" Envy whispered.

"....What happened-"

"How much do you remember-"

"...........I don't know. It's all mixed-up".

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Saturday!


	18. Outside The Mind: Camp Terror

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Re-captured.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cw: Language, threat of death.

???

As the world vanished around her, she scrabbled to grab onto the bark of a tree-

But it sizzled into ash too fast.

“-!”

Weightless…

F a l l i n g -

“Got you!”

A pair of arms caught her below her pits.

She looked up?

“Hi there-oh you’re a young one”.

Violet eyes regarded her with surprise.

“You’re just a kid….”

His smirk became a grim line.

“….Who are you?”

“Michael”.

“….? Where are we-“

“I’ll explain…as soon as we get out of here”.

*

Alice

"So glad you decided to come, dontchaknow!"

Poor Hecuba whimpered in fear….

"Yeah, yeah, whatever”, Orpheus snapped, “Just get to the end of the villain speech already”.

"But it's time for camp stories, dontchaknow”.

"I swear to God, I will _end_ you if you say that one more time”, Parris threatened.

-And more affirmations to that as an echo.

"Look, I don't know what kind of game you're playing, but it's not one we're interested in”, Aoibhe informed her, “Where's our friend Delta?"

"Oh, she's fine, dontchaknow”.

"No”.

Ines wasn’t having it.

"I don't think she is fine. If she _is_ fine, then where the f* is she?"

Carol moved out of the way to reveal just as tied up as the rest of us.

And held hostage at knife-point by more zombies to boot-

"Let her go!" Lacey yelled.

"Why would I wanna do that dontchaknow?"

"Because if you don't we’ll kick your butt!” Sequoia threatened.

"How are you gonna do that when you're all tied up dontchaknow?"

“We’ll find a way”, I asserted.

Like I wasn’t _currently s_ wimming in a sea of nauseous fear and confusion.

"Enough of this, Carol!” Thanasis shouted at her face-

"You've taken _weeks_ from us, ones that we can never get back!"

"It was for your own good dontchaknow”.

_A likely story…….._

"If it was for our own good, why did you have to put us under mind control? You could've just asked us if we wanted to be at a summer camp”. Audley pointed out-

"No one ever wants to go to my summer camp dontchaknow!"

"I can't imagine why”, Orpheus said sarcastically.

"Wait, what the h* are you gonna do to us now?” Thanasis asked-

"Put you under my control dontchaknow. Guards, you know what to do dontchaknow”.

No-

They started for us-

"Wait!" 

Nina.

"If this is just like Escape the Night, why don't we do a challenge? The losers can become your Stepford smilers for as long as you want them or something”.

What!?

Time passed as she thought it over, but-

_WHAT!??_

_What on earth_ was Nina thinking-

"Weeeeeeelllll......I suppose......okay! We'll set up a summer camp gauntlet. Send in sixteen of you. Guards, untie them all dontchaknow”.

I stood up shakily after it was done.

_…………Why’d her defeat only have to be a dream-_

"You can go back to the dining hall to decide dontchaknow”.

"I can't believe we're doing this again”, Joey groaned.

"Another gauntlet. We're voting in 16 of us”.

DeStorm stated the obvious-

"Okay before we do, I think we should figure out who we should keep out of the voting pile. I, for one, do not want to go in. I have scoliosis and my legs are killing me”, Mystic declared.

"Same”, said Aoibhe.

"I think we should also take out those who were under her control prior to this. It wouldn't be fair to them if we just sent them back in”, Delta reasoned.

"I agree”, I seconded-"

"Same”, Envy looked grim-

"I think it'd also be fair to keep out those of us who were in the previous challenge”, Mystic went on.

"I second that”.

Lauren nodded-

"So that means Mystic, Alice, Envy, Lauren, Oli, Matpat, and Ro aren't eligible for a vote”, Joey counted off.

"Okay, who was freed from her control? Because if we're gonna want to avoid voting for them, I'd like to know who they are”, Eva put frankly.

"I think it's.....Sybille, Thanasis, Trigorien, Nina, and Audley”, Mystic also counted off.

"Did I miss anyone?"

A girl who hadn’t spoken until now raised her hand.

"I'm Yana”.

"She was the one I was holding down”, Rene submitted.

"Okay, so that was six out of how many campers?"

"There were ten of us when we arrived”, Yana vouched, “But I think there might've been more. We were just one of the first groups”.

"Did you ever see anyone else come in?" Sasha asked-

She shook her head.

"I'd probably blacked out by that time”.

“So that's thirteen out”, Erica kept track, “That means the voting pool is still open. I think we should limit it down even more”.

"Are you sure?"

Teala swallowed.

"We should make sure we're keeping the best people in the group”, the Shipper insisted.

"I really think we should just vote”, Mystic sighed, "It'll be better now than never”.

Calliope pulled out the cards.

"I think we all know how this works”.

…..I didn’t know who to pick.

So I just stuck a finger out at random-

When I was done I stood with Envy-

“I wish we didn’t have to do this”, he whispered.

“I know-“

"Alright. I will now shuffle and draw out sixteen to compete”.

"Jaiden”.

“-Well, I had a good run”.

"Hecuba”.

"Are you serious?"

_No-!_

"Lisbet”.

_Whimpering…._

"Delta”.

"No, no, no, no, no! That's not possible”.

"Parris”.

"Are you serious?"

"Sasha”.

"I knew it was coming at some point, I just didn't think it would be now”.

"Orpheus”.

“F*”.

"Rene”.

_“Wonderful-“_

"Ines”.

"Figures”.

"Bretman”.

“B*, I am ready”.

"Joey”.

"You can't be serious”.

“Tyler”.

"Oop!"

"Andrea Russett”.

"Well, that's fan-f*g-tastic”.

"Liza”.

"Can Jet take my place?"

"Penelope Dowry”.

"Excellent”.

"And finally..."

Ivy Flora.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof...


	19. Leaving And Coming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The challengers go, but others appear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cw: Implied death possibility.

"Okay, who the f* voted for Ivy?"

Mystic was NOT happy-

"Mystic, chill out”, Jaiden sighed, “She was bound to get reaped”.

But why!?

"You sixteen follow me”, Calliope intoned-

"Please come back safely, love. And make sure Penelope and Andrea get back too”.

She nodded, and they kissed.

Then she, and the rest of the sixteen, headed outside.

Envy shifted nervously-

“She’ll be okay”.

I rubbed his arm.

“I know…………..”

But she wouldn’t be alone out there.

***

One purple poof later, and we were in an empty cabin.

“Phew…”

“……….?”

I set down the girl until both feet were planted firmly upon the wood-

She felt for the coin tied to her leg-

Still there...

She sighed in relief.

“Looks like we’ve missed all the fun”.

I smiled.

“….Fun?”

“Death, and Despair, and all of that”.

“…..What?”

“ETN-related”.

“…………What?”

She blinked.

“Long story”.

I crossed over to the door, and peered out.

“Wonder where they went-“

“They?”

I closed my eyes for a second...

“Ahh…there you are”.

“Huh?”

I turned to look over my shoulder, and beckoned.

“I found the one who caused you to be here”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Easter!


	20. Support Buddies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Who lives, who dies, and who cracks in two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cw: Language, death, implied gorn, suicidal ideation.

Alice

Mystic paced around in worry.

Couldn't really blame her....

"Mystic, I'm sure they'll be fine”, I tried to say.

"But what if they're not? What if they die?"

"They're not gonna die”.

"How do you know? These challenges have pulled twists on us before. What if it's the top eight who die or get....Stepfordified? What if it's a random draw on who dies? What if they _all_ die?!"

_Uh…Hang on-_

"Darling, you'll have me”.

Lilith put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

-She pulled away.

"Don't you dare. You're being selfish”.

I didn’t understand-

Seemed nice to me?

For once-

"I'm just trying to alleviate your worry”.

"Well, it's not working. All it's doing is making me wish I'd left you behind. If they die out there....if they die....."

What!?

_Wow, that was kind-of harsh….but I shouldn’t be thinking like this._

She fell to her knees.

"Ivy, Andrea, Penelope.....I don't wanna go on without them!"

"Ye won't 'afta”.

_-Ivy!!_

And Andrea R. and Penelope-

She raced to her, enveloping her in a hug.

"Oh thank God! I was so scared!"

The Plant Pirate picked her up, and returned it.

"That's sweet a ye, love, but ye didn't need te be”.

"But I do! Ivy, I.....I'm so scared to lose you. You make me feel so......safe and happy. Ever since we first met, you've made me feel butterflies in my stomach and you're just....so much of what I aspire to be. Brave, outgoing, confident, charismatic, beautiful, kind, not afraid to stand out, unafraid to tell people off when they deserve it. Those kinds of people....at least those who love me romantically....they don't come around often in my life. I can't imagine it without you now. Ivy, I...I love you so d* much, and I want the world to know just how amazing you truly are”.

_Aww…._

They kissed.

It went on for a long while…

Then they pulled back.

Gazed into each others eyes for another long while.

Then kissed agai-

Erica fell to the floor in a spastic spasm.

"Does that answer about us?"

"100%”.

They hugged.

"I told you they'd be fine…”

I smiled.

_Wholesomeness-_

"Okay”, Sybille broke in, “But there are still 8 others who aren't safe”.

"But four of them will be”.

"But four of them won't be”.

"Looks like we've found the pessimist”, Taylor snarked-

"I'm being realistic”, she replied.

"You both are”, Trigorien moaned, “Now can we please stop this? I'm trying not to think about this Carol b* and her stupidity”.

"That's what we've had to deal with for God-knows-how-long”, Sybille said.

"Yeah, no s*. I was there too”.

"Okay, so then what's the plan?" Tyler asked, "Because I don't wanna be in this nutty camp any longer than I have to be”.

"We get the f* out, that's the plan”, Nikita answered.

"But where would we go?"

"I dunno. We've always winged it, why should that change?”

"How long do we have until things go to h*?”

“-Should we tell them now?"

Gabbie?

"I don't know, I don't wanna cause unnecessary panic”.

Mystic?

"You might either way”.

Huh?

"Mystic, what are you talking about?" I finally got out-

"I'll tell you when the others return”.

"Uh, I would actually really like to know how long we have until things go to s*”, Aoibhe countered, “I wanna know if I have enough time to scream into an abyss”.

"Things have already gone that way”.

Envy….

"If someone had just let me use the tracker, we'd be done by now”.

"Well, if someone hadn't tried to steal my Tea Stones--"

"I was doing it to help--"

"You still stole them from me!"

"Please, stop!"

_Not **more** arguing-_

"No one's at fault here”.

"Uhhhh…” C.P. fidgeted, “I mean, if she'd let us use the Tea Stones, I might be back in my real body”.

"You're being selfish”.

  
_There was that word-_

"You're being ungrateful! You got p*d at Envy for trying to help!"

"He stole the Tea Stones”.

"For good intentions”.

"That's rich coming from a demon”.

"Oop!" Tyler yelped, mouth wide open-

"Just put me back in my body, or else!"

"Huh. Or else what? You gonna turn me into one of your hybrid servants?"

"You know? I just might. It'd ensure that you wouldn't just go running off again. Or maybe I'll take a page outta CG's book and marry you, or maybe take a page outta Cal's and turn you into a doll!"

-Nonono!!

Poor Envy tensed-

The mere **mentio** n of that name.

Ivy held her protectively-

"If ye even so much as lay a _finger_ on love”, she hissed, “I'll make sure ye 'ave no fingers te lay on _anyone”._

"You could just say some Bible verses”, Mystic smirked.

The Demon stiffened, and went quiet.

“D* that book”, he muttered.

"That's blasphemy!"

"Like you said, kid, I'm a demon”.

"No one is marrying anyone or turning anyone into anything!"

_I’ve had it up to here with this!!_

"This kind of thing is exactly what the Cursed God wants. If we're gonna get all of the tokens, we have to work together and not threaten each other”.

"I'd like to remind you that we likely still have a traitor amongst us”.

You-

Just _had_ to rip the wind out of my sails, didn’t you.

"I really wish we had Nanami-san then. She'd be able to tell us”.

"What's the fun in that? Where's the merit?"

_But how else would we find out-!?_

"What about safety?” Envy tried.

"Don't you two even f*g start”, Nikita groused.

-Footsteps.

"Oh thank the Lord!" 

Delta tripped in-

"What the h* happened?" Lennox yelped.

"Where are the others?"

"I'm back!"

Sasha leaped over-

"That's two".

"What about--?"

"Here I am!"

Ines helped Delta up.

"Wait, so.....you three made it.....only one more?" Joey double-checked.

"It sucks, but it's better than all of us dying”.

Sasha shook her head.

"Get those spare jars ready, Penelope”.

…………………..

And…

_Please be Hecuba, **please** be Hecuba!!_

"I made it! I made it!"

It was Parris.

…..My heart **dropped-**

_Support…buddies…._

"Dude, what the h* happened?” Sybille gasped.

"You look like you've seen a f*g ghost!"

"Wait”.

It dawned on Lennox-

"Then that means....Jaiden....Hecuba.....Lisbet....and Rene...."

Sasha nodded, looking upset.

I felt tears fill my eyes….

_I...promised...._

"Jaiden and Rene got turned into the campers. Then they had to......shoot Hecuba and Lisbet into the water with bows and arrows. And because there was a s'more-eating section.....and that's a lake full of leeches....."

Ahh….hhh….hhh…….

_Hadn't...I....?_

At least…at least…

My mind scrambled to hold onto what little silver lining there was left…..

_They would’ve been dead **before** they hit the water-!!_

"I'm telling you. Me dying would solve all of this”, Mystic repeated.

-Not **_that_** now-!!

Not after….

“F*ing how?!” Nikita raged-

"You may have gotten us into this mess, you may not have, but you're the only one who can stop it!"

"At any rate”, Envy said, somehow having snatched Carol’s Token piece despite it all-

"We have half of the 4th token. We're.....we're over halfway to ending this”.

_Yes!!_

"Okay, yeah, that's great and all”, Aoibhe interrupted, “But how long do we have until things go to s*?!?”

_Obsessed,_ are we!??

"Who's gonna tell them?"

She looked to Ro and Gabbie-

"You do it”.

The latter shrugged.

"You said you would”.

……………………………………………………….She took a deep breath before speaking.

"Okay, so.....a little ways back, I was able to eavesdrop on the Cursed God.....and the Blood Moon is coming soon..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TT Poor Dahlia....


	21. Inside The Mind: Four More Eliminated

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a hiatus, the portraits are changing...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cw: Implied gore, mind manipulation, and death. Also mention of the word 'insane'.

No activity for almost two months and a couple weeks or so.

And now-

Azura’s portrait bubbled, and suddenly became a vibrantly-strained technicolor.

Rene’s underwent a similar change-

Then, at the same time.

**THUNK**

Two arrow holes opened up in Hecuba’s and Lisbet's chests.

Their portraits faded….

All the ink sucked out as they watched.

Sal sighed, and rubbed his forehead.

“…….This isn’t good-“

-Another sliver of Token whooshed onto the fourth pedestal, side-by-side with the one from the second Christmas pains.

“At least we could probably get away with bringing in those first two”, Vero noted.

“You think so?” Alex asked.

………The twosome had been searching endlessly for a way to keep outsiders from getting in with magic, and when the Shadow Beast had returned, he’d joined them.

They’d still been looking, when they’d heard a strange, Minnesotan whistle echo throughout the cavernous tunnels…..

To reveal **this.**

“…..”

They waited a bit longer.

For any last deaths to appear-

“…..”

Nothing.

Alex let out an exhausted breath, and a sad smile.

“I guess we should be glad something finally happened, huh?”

Sal’s lips pursed.

“I wouldn’t call this a good thing”.

-

“Okay, so-“

His blue eyes regarded the two of them evenly-

“If I had to guess, I’d say Jaiden and Rene were both brainwashed”.

“We need a cure”.

“Yes”.

“I take it I’m not going with you?” Alex asked?

“Right”.

“But we shouldn’t leave him”, Vero added.

“Also right”.

“So who’s going?” Alex asked again.

“We need to find the cure first. Then we’ll work all that out”, Sal promised.

“Sounds fair…” Vero grinned.

“Okay”.

He nodded.

“…..Is there like a book or something?”

“Not a book, necessarily…”

Sal was thinking…

“We need someone to ask”.

“And?”

Vero waited……

“I know this sounds absolutely insane, but we need to bring back the Sugarplum fairy”.

“WHAT!?”

“Her!?’

Alex’s nerves split.

“That woman’s done a lot of evil things though….”

“I know”.

Sal drew in a breath, and wiped shaking hands on his pants.

“I know…but the Future is very uncertain, and we can’t let those two slip out of our hands if more arise”.

“…..You _really_ want the Sugarplum fairy!? After **_everything_ **she put us through!??”

“I know”.

He folded his arms.

“I’ve got a plan”.

-

“-This has got to be the weirdest thing I have ever done”.

Alex leaned over a vat of slime.

“Can’t believe we spent three hours looking for this stuff-“

Vero rubbed his eyes.

“Yes, but it’ll be worth it once we get her stuck”.

Sal was adamant.

“This stuff isn’t ordinary slime, either-“

He patted the ‘Radioactive’ symbol stamped on the side.

“So it should be extra-resistant to her tricks”.

“-You made that up on the spot”, Vero accused.

“….Here’s hoping”.

“Should we have a Plan B?” Alex chimed in.

“Just in case something goes wrong?”

“I’ll be Plan B”, Vero growled.

“…….In that case, you’re going to need to be _magic_ resistant”.

“But how do we-?” Alex was getting confused.

“We might be able to find some residue fairy dust from where she originally broke in”.

His voice faltered…

“Keyword…..being might, but-

Surprisingly…..”

“Surprisingly what?”

The Aviator hung onto every word-

‘We have yet to live through the Worst-Case Scenario despite all of the occasions where it could’ve happened’.

“….Nah. It's nothing".

“Okay”.

....

_I don't want to cancel this._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good luck....


	22. Outside The Mind: Exhaustion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Revelations, but break time. FINALLY.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cw: Language, OMG.

Alice

No one said anything.

The tension was so thick-

"Wait, what's the blood moon?"

Aoibhe broke it all to shreds.

"It's when magic's at its most powerful”, sighed Gabbie.

……We took a few moments to absorb.

Cool.

"Which means the Cursed God could use his magic to work around that loophole of 'he can't use magic to make Mystic fall in love with him’”.

_-Oh crap._

…What are you all looking so blank for!?

"Which means he could get Mystic to marry him and lower the barrier”, Ro explained.

**Gasping.**

_Now_ they got it-

_Exclamations piling on top of each other until it was impossible for me to tell who said what, where, and why-_

"Why didn't you tell us this sooner?!?” Tristen gawped.

"What the f* do we do now?" Lennox freaked-

"Oh my God, we gotta get outta here!" Hecuba paled.

-The time to vacate was immediate, apparently.

In one, giant, stampede.

“-!!”

I clung onto Envy for dear life-

I suddenly had the feeling of people watching me over my shoulder.

“-!?”

“Alice? Is something wrong?”

“I-“

C.P. shouldered in next to me.

“Wild crowd”.

“No kidding…” Envy sighed….

…………

We waited for the tremors to pass, then went out into the sunshine.

I flopped onto my face on the grass.

_Far_ away from camp.

Atop a big hill.

“……Are you okay?”

“M’fine-“ I mumbled.

I could hear C.P. spit laughter.

“……….Are you sure?”

“Mmhm”.

Just….tired.

And grieving….

And stressed-

And-

“-Hey, has anyone seen Mystic? Or Ivy? Or Andrea R.?”

Gabbie had climbed all the way up here-

“It’s been a while…..”

“You guys didn’t find them?” Envy asked.

“No…and we’ve looked everywhere”.

She ran a tired hand through her hair.

…

I un-plastered my face from the ground.

“I can go get them”.

_After all…_

I pushed aside the green screen.

_I knew where their secret place was._

-Why was Mystic falling into a tree!?

Andrea R.’s got her, oh good-

Nope, they’re gone!

Wait-

Ivy-

Nope, she’s gone-

I sped up.

"Mystic?!?!"

.

.

.

.

.

I stared into that deep, deep darkness, and wondered how I was going to tell Gabbie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy.


	23. Golden Bird Talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Uh-oh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cw: Dark spaces, falling, language. Cas. drugs ref. Rehab. Savior issues.

“Alice?”

“Huh-“

Who-

“Ro!?”

“There you are!”

She grinned.

“You’ve been gone for so long….”

“They’re down there”.

I pointed into the black-hole-emptiness before me.

“Mystic, and Ivy, and Andrea-“

“What?”

“They fell”.

I swallowed-

“I saw them-!!”

“….Oh”.

She blinked.

“Um…hm…”

I felt my stomach grow sick with worry-

“Then….let’s go find out where they went!”

She linked hands with me, and together, we-

Jumped.

-

DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME KIDS-

DO **NOT!!!**

My sight was all-encompassed by pitch-darkness, and no feeling to moor us.

We screamed-

Though were we, really!?

For all I knew, I was losing my mind into a fluffy, dark pillow.

…….A million years later, we plummeted into light-

And onto the missing trio themselves.

"Ow! Talk about a crash landing-“

My stomach hurt-

"Alice, what are you doing here?” Mystic cried out.

"I have no clue. I saw you fall down, and then Ro came to check on me. Now I'm here”.

Another-?!

"'O is it this time?" Ivy asked.

"Hold up, I think I recognize that scream”, Mystic said…”I think it's her...."

“Who?”

Did we get followed, too-

**THUD!!**

"Ow! That's gonna hurt like a m*r soon enough”.

"Gabbie?"

Sounded like her-

"How did you fall down here?"

She shrugged.

"No f*g idea. I just saw you and Ro fall down the tree and I wanted to see if it was real or if Carol had slipped some drugs into the campfire last night. What the f* is going on here?"

"That's what I'd like to know”, Andrea R. said-

"Our savior has returned to us!”

Huh-

People in robes?

"Your whatnow?"

"Long live the incarnation of the Golden Bird”.

"Huh?"

My thoughts exactly.

"Yeah….”

Ro rubbed her head-

"I'm confused too”.

"Make that three”.

Andrea R. raised her hand-

"Four”, I added.

"I think it's pretty safe to assume that all six of us have no idea what the actual f* is going on right now”.

Thanks, Gabbie.

Way to state the obvious.

"We mean that our savior, the darling little golden bird, is back where she truly belongs”.

The crowd parted to let in a lady in white with platinum-blonde hair.

"I'm sorry, what?"

Smiling-

"You have been sent to relieve us of our suffering”.

"Uh, can you maybe clarify please?"

"You are the human incarnation of the songbird we were born from, and only your voice can relieve us of the horrific suffering that we bear”.

...

....Okay, first of all-

"Do.....do you _know_ what you're even saying?" Mystic deadpanned.

"Quite well-It's embedded into our DNA".

"I feel like you people need to go to rehab".

Oof, _that_ wasn't complimentary-

She kneeled down to stroke her hair.

Ew, weird-!

"Oh, darling. I understand that this must be a shock since you've spent so much time around those lesser beings known as humans--"

"Hey!" I exclaimed.

I resembled that remark!

"--but I assure you that, once you are immersed into the life you are supposed to be living, everything will come together".

"I highly doubt that".

She pulled away-

"I'm not doing s*!"

She frowned.

"Oh dear.....she's much more deluded than I thought. I figured that the lesser world would make her forget, yes, but I didn't think it would make her become so adamant about it being where she's meant to be that she denies her own destiny".

"Yer all deluded!" Ivy snapped, "Ye've all lost yer marbles!"

"I assure you that our marbles are quite found", Mystic seconded.

She sighed....

"Okay, look. Let's say this whole savior thing is real. What if I'm the wrong one? What if you've made some sort of mistake? If you want your suffering to be relieved, you're gonna want the right person, right?"

-The Walking Robes turned and murmured low to each other.

"Hmm, yes....."

The woman nodded.

"She makes a good point. Earnest, bring in the concoction".

-Earnest did.

"Just a sip of this, dearie, and we'll be able to know for certain whether or not you are who we seek".

She handed it over-

"What is it? Is it some sort of poison?"

-She looked positively repulsed by the idea.

"Of course not! Why would we kill our savior?"

Ugh...

All this 'Savior' talk was making my head float off my shoulders-

"Well? How is it?" Ro asked.

Mystic smacked her lips.

"It's not bad....very sweet, a bit tangy, kinda warm---"

She closed her eyes, and sang.

-Before our very eyes, they looked....younger!??

Much happier, at least.

"It _is_ you!"

Uhhh....

"We have our savior, and possibly her saints".

What.

"Saints?" Andrea R. echoed-

She clapped her hands.

More of whatever that was in golden mugs-

One for the rest of us.

Each.

"I'm not drinking this", I refused-

"If you do not, then we'll have to kill you".

Oh come on!!

"None of them have to drink it. If you kill her, or anyone else, I will kill myself", Mystic warned.

Their faces turned afraid-

"But we must know if they can sing, if they're worthy of being your saints".

"They're worthy as f*", Mystic protested.

"Only those who are able to sing can become your saints. The rest must be disposed of".

\--Were we in for more deaths!?

So soon!??

"As I said, if you kill anyone--"

"But---"

I was trembling with dread-

"If I'm your 'savior,' then on my orders, you'll not kill them. Instead you'll let us go".

"I'm afraid we cannot do that. But if it is your word, we shall spare them and make them your saints".

-Oh thank Heavens.

-Kind-of.

But still-!

"Thank you".

She bobbed her head-

"Now...I am the headmistress of our group. You may call me Emmy. And what earthly name did they give you?"

"Mystic".

...................She had to think real hard about that one-

"Mystic......Hmmmmmm......Not entirely earthly, but also not entirely befitting for a goddess such as yourself. Hmmm.....I think Celeste would suit you much better.

It's very ethereal and lyrical".

-Seriously?

"Now we shall lead you to your room".

"-Hey! She doesn't have to go anywhere with you!" Gabbie cut in protectively.

'It'll be okay, I'll talk to you later', Mystic mouthed to us-

'Emmy' clapped her hands again.

_.....Are you flipping kidding me._

They brought in a _Throne_ with _poles._

"Do...do I have to?"

"A goddess such as yourself shouldn't have to walk all that way".

Son of a _biscuit,_ these people were irritating!!

"..............F* it".

She stepped onto the Throne anyhow.

A bunch of Robed Figures lifted it off the ground-

"Take the saints to their dorm. Do not harm them in any way".

_Oh-_

Ivy, Andrea R., Ro, myself, and Gabbie were promptly hauled off the floor, and ushered us in a different direction-

I struggled to see her as they carried her farther and farther away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-
> 
> Oh pardon me.


	24. Purple

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone's caught up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cw: Fear of the dark. Implied brain holes.

Envy

…………..Minutes passed by.

“-Okay, that’s it”.

Gabbie ran off-!?

“Wh-wait!!”

But it was too late-

“Uh, should we follow her?”

C.P. blinked at the retreating dust trail.

“Gabbie-!!”

I moved to follow-

“Found you”.

-What!?

*

_A black shadow!?_

It-

Spread beneath my feet-

“Wha-hey!!”

The Demon protested-

It leapt up to swallow us both!!

_Nononono no darkness, **no-!!!!!!!**_

-It was only for a second.

*

“-Who are you!?”

If Candy Pop had a purple brother-

“….”

They grinned.

“Where’s your friend?”

“-What do you want with her”.

“Aw, don’t be suspicious…….”

Violet eyes coolly regarded mine…….

“I just want to know how she’s holding up, is all.

Doesn’t have any….holes in her mind, yet, does she?”

“The heck are you talking about?” C.P. snapped.

“Where is this!?”

“It’s a Shadow Pocket”, they said matter-of-factly.

“So why are we in it-“

“Because it was easier to do than chase you all over~”

“-Are you going to start giving us straight answers!?”

_Don’t you dare mess with my head!_

“….In a minute, in a minute, I just want to know-“

“No. Are you satisfied now?”

“……”

They shut their eyes innocently.

“….Yes. Yes I am”.

-A pale-golden head peeped out behind their giant cloak.

“-Hello, you two.

This is our Displaced Inter-Dimensional Traveler-“

“Uh…hi?”

They stared with wide eyes.

“Are you twelve?” C.P. asked-

They shook their head.

“They came in when Alice got stolen to another dimension-well, almost.

But it left a crack behind, and someone slipped through”.

The purple person gestured to the child in the yellow dress hiding.

“Then it sealed up meaning she’d returned-“

The purple person smirked.

“-Unfortunately leaving this one, stranded.

But returning her myself would be no trouble for me..."

The expression didn’t change-

“However….any more of that, and poor Alice’ll be in big trouble”.

“Like we didn’t know-“ I yelled.

“Better watch her……….it’ll probably definitely happen again”.

*

-The shadow spit us out.

“Where’d everybody go!?”

C.P. peered over the top of the hill-

“-They’re gone!??”

I turned to look as well-

“What the-“

They _were_ gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Wednesday!! <3


	25. Inside The Mind: Their Trap

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The plan to catch the Sugarplum Fairy goes in motion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cw: Candy, slime, threat of death, running into things.

-Because Alex wasn’t there when the whole ‘Sugarplum fairy appears out the mirror, causes havoc’ thing went down, he wasn't quite sure what to expect.

The black hole into emptiness?

“……She came through here?”

Not exactly the first place he’d peg a candy fairy to hang out in…

“Yeah”, Sal nodded.

He ran a finger along the empty edges of the frame.

Inspected the contents between forefinger and thumb-

“See anything?”

“Does it look glittery to you?”

Vero snorted.

“Sure _smells_ sweet-“

“That’s a good sign, right?”

The Aviator tried to smile-

“Yeah, it is”.

“Okay”.

……He was in way over his head, but that was nothing new.

“Now what?”

“Now, we-“

Sal blew it onto Vero!

“-ACHOO-!!”

Alex was almost knocked backwards from the force-!!

“Ugh-!”

“What happened-“

“I inhaled a crap ton of pixy stiks-“

“Ooh…..”

He gave a wince of sympathy.

“….If I get stuck looking pink and sparkly for a week-“

“You won’t”, Sal said.

“Really?” Alex asked.

“-You’ve already sneezed half of it off”.

“Good”.

Next, someone had to do the heavy lifting for the barrel.

…….While Vero floated in front of the hole, the other two strained to hold it without dumping all of their precious slime along the ground-

“What do I do? Just yell ‘hey, we need you’-“

“Will that work?” Alex wondered-

“Tell her we destroyed the North Pole”.

“Tell her we swore off candy forever?”

-That one made him bark a short laugh.

“Hey Sugarplum!!

We officially reject any and all candified…whatever-“

-He spit.

Into the blackness.

……Sal blinked.

_If she decides to appear for this-_

Alex waited nervously.

Fingertips aching-

Vero stuck his head through.

“Hello??”

WHACK-

“OW-“

Sal felt déjà-vu.

“………You idiots are trying _this_ hard?”

Her expression was remarkably unimpressed.

“Still appeared, didn’t you?”

Vero hurried out of the Strike Zone, rubbing his eye-

The two men heaved the barrel!

SPLASH-!!!

“Huh-!?”

Alex gasped as the grotesque slime-

Landed on _them!!_

She sighed.

“-Haven’t learned from last time, have you?”

-Sal did his best to shoulder in front of the Guy-Who-Should-Be-Dead.

Never mind the clinging awfulness hindering his movement.

Frowning, she craned her neck to see

“Hey you!”

Vero took a swing at her!!

She blocked, magical force field spreading like sideways water.

“-?”

“Yeah, that’s right”.

He grinned as the shockwaves proved to be a no-sell, this time around.

“I’m immune”.

“…..So you did ONE thing perfectly for a change”.

Her moment of fear passed.

“That won’t be enough to save you”.

_-As much as I appreciate the thought, could you_ please _get your elbow out of my face?_

He said it in his head-

But he didn’t say it out loud.

Alex grimaced.

_Is it safe to whisper?_

How much of anything he did would get him noticed?

And then probably, most likely, **murdered.**

_Go Vero!_

(-So he settled for this instead).

_Get her stuck-to us?_

_Wait, that didn't come out right-_

_-At least knock her down long enough so we can save those campers-!!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Saturday x2!!


	26. Deal With The Christmasy Devil

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sal decides to take a risk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cw: Brainwashing mention, implied death threat.

“Wait!”

-They didn’t pay any attention.

Sal sighed.

“WAIT-“

“-Come on man”, Vero chided.

He pushed back, and she actually staggered away a few steps.

“This was the plan, remember?”

“Yeah-“

She lifted her wand, and shot a stream of Christmas cheer.

He blocked, and swung it into the wall with a **BOOOMM-**

“I was your backup!!”

“Yeah”.

He shrugged a little further in front of Alex.

“But plans change….you have no idea how much-“

“So?”

“So, can we just talk, for two seconds?”

“-?”

The Sugarplum Fairy did a double-take.

“…….You men were stupid enough to want me back.

And you tried to trap me, PLUS you’re loose ends, who’s to say I shouldn’t just turn you into candy right here and now?”

“-We thought you would do just that if we didn’t”.

He tried to defend-

She swung and hit the attacking party point-blank.

He went skidding down the corridor, steam kicking up from his heels-

“Well, you would’ve been restrained first. And then brainwashed. And then-“

Alex smiled nervously.

_She must be a fun person to hang out with…._

“How about 'no' to all of those”.

Sal was firm.

“We just wanted to ask you something”.

“You? Want to rely on me-“

“For ONE thing…or……”

The gears clicked in his mind.

“Two…….”

“-Owing that lady any favors would end with our heads on a sugary platter”, Vero warned.

“Now, if it was _hers-“_

A strand of licorice snapped him upside his own head.

“-Ow!”

He scowled at the irony.

“We’ll give you something in return”.

“-What!?”

  
Alex made a silent ‘O’ with his lips.

“-Oho?”

Her magic fizzled out mid-strike.

“You said _what?”_

“I said-“

_This can one of two ways._

“If you answer our questions, we’ll give you something in return”.

_One:_

Her eyes gleamed like shiny mints.

_She lies, and we’re good as dead._

“Something?”

_Two:_

“Anything”.

_She tells us the truth, and we solve everything._

“……”

“-What the-!?”

Vero smacked his hand up against a see-through barrier.

“Just keep quiet for a while”.

“-!?? You think I’m just gonna-“

She sighed.

And melted the slime into candy juice.

Sal quickly had an ‘oh crap’-

“Hello, Alex”, she greeted drily as their toes touched the floor.

“-Hi!”

His grin was plastered to his face.

“-Don’t tell anyone about him, either”, Sal amended-

“Hmm….”

“I’ll help out with whatever your price is”, the Aviator told her.

“-Will you?”

“Yes!”

“……….Alright….”

“Thank you”.

“-Just don’t lie to us”, Sal also said.

“Would I?”

“You might….”

“Oh darling…….”

She clucked her tongue.

“That depends on what you ask”.

They stared each other down.

“……Fine”.

He prepared for the telling:

“First:

Do you know how to undo the brainwashing at Camp Happy…..Sunshine.

Second:

Is there another way to reach the Blue Fairy?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Monday!!


	27. Hidden Seek

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two wild missions have been discovered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tw: Loss of sanity mention. Death mention.

The Sugarplum Fairy’s laugh was silvery.

“….That’s what you want?”

“Yes”.

“…….”

She looked him up and down-

“….Easy enough”.

She snapped her fingers, and what looked like a pink perfume bottle appeared.

Sal took it-

“Spritz this through camp, and they’ll be out before you can say ‘thank you’-“

He nodded.

“And the other?”

She tilted her head.

“Oh? You don’t know?”

“Don’t know what?”

Her smile was amused.

_Probably not a good omen_ , Alex thought.

“The last time I saw the Blue Fairy, she’d cleaned up the Cottage, and disappeared”.

“What-“

-Had he heard that correctly.

“She’s gone”.

“….That’s not good news-“ Alex lampshaded-

“Sad to say, that’s the Sugary truth”.

“………”

_-Should’ve known that was coming._

And yet-

“….Is there a way to find out where she is now?”

He nodded to the empty frame-

“We were led there before-“

“Yes, to double clarify, if I haven’t already-“

She pursed her pink, glittery lips.

“That one was a Trap, through and through”.

“….You, uh, really like to cover your bases, huh?” Alex quipped.

“You might consider it to be like that, yes….”

“So how could we find her now?”

Sal tried to steer the conversation back on course-

“Welllll……”

She tapped a candy-swirled fingertip to her chin.

“There have been rumors on-and-off throughout the years….of a woman who could find the answers to anything one seeks”.

“Really?”

Alex was floored.

“Man, we coulda used this a while ago-“

“Don’t get _too_ ahead of yourself there, sonny”.

The Sugarplum Fairy raised an eyebrow, bemused.

“I’ve also heard she’s nearly impossible to track down these days….the Ninth Spirit”.

“……Sorry, what?”

Alex shook his head, confused.

“Who is that-“

“She has a book that knows everything there is to know for every single conceivable question in existence”.

“Whoah…..”

“Did the rumors say where she’d last frequented?” Sal asked.

“No….and there’s no guarantee she’d tell you your answers anyhow, even if you _did_ find her”.

She sighed.

“However, the flip side of her power remains untouched….and is currently in the hands of Death.

At least, most of it is….”

“And where is that?”

“Are you sure you want to know?”

He nodded-

For the third time.

“…..You _do_ realize that even if it _doesn’t_ corrupt you to the end of your sanity first, you’d _still_ have to pay a cost?

Short cuts always leave a toll……………………”

“I mean”, Alex cut in, “We’ve made it this far, right?”

“Hm…”

She shrugged.

“If that’s what you wish to think….”

“It’s better than what it could be”, Sal said.

“-Oh that’s right. _You’d_ have experience with unfortunate outcomes, now wouldn’t you?”

“What-“

“……Well, you’ve got your questions ferreted out”.

Her smile was pure evil.

“Now….for MY price”.

They braced themselves-

“I want to take over Christmas operations.

Since it seems like the North Pole has apparently managed to make a horrific descent into the deep end of the Arctic Ocean-”

“-That’s gonna be a bit difficult”, Alex winced.

“Oh? And why’s that?”

“We kinda…..apparently Holly the Christmas fairy is taking over?”

Her smile fell.

“Oh”.

“This happened before you got here….”

“I gathered”.

Her wings flapped passive-aggressively.

“-Well, unless you can get her to let me on her Organizing Committee, you three are in **huge** trouble”.

“We could, if we knew we weren’t liable to disappear if we tried to go through any other mirrors”, Sal argued.

“Shall I make a magically-induced check for you?”

She’d probably meant it sarcastically.

“Yes”.

But they needed to know at _some_ point-

She snorted, and somehow, it sounded elegant.

“You have a lot of gumption for a dead man”.

Alex started.

“-Wait, you’re dead!?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Tuesday!!


	28. Inside/Outside The Mind: Bittersweet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anti-brainwash time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tw: Brainwashing implied, regrets. Feelings of uselessness.

_….It would’ve come out sooner or later._

“……I am, and I’m not”.

“What?”

Alex’s smile seemed like a mask to cover his disturbed confusion.

“Long story”.

The Sugarplum Fairy looked like the cat that’d finally gotten the cream-

And it _wasn’t_ as friendly as Gizmo.

“-Anyway, yes. I kind-of have to, if I want to deal with people like you”.

“Duly noted”.

She whisked her wand, and the barrier faded.

Into a protective bubble around her heavily reminiscent of Glinda the Good Fairy, ironically, enough-

-Finding himself actually able to do some damage for a change, Vero swung his fist into the floaty material.

She bounced into the air, and wafted off down the hall —-

“Where do you think you’re going!?”

“Off to check for more traps, of course~” she wisped.

“-Hold on one second-!!”

He turned to the other two.

“What did you talk about in there?”

“We have the anti-brainwashing thing, and a lead on the Blue Fairy that’s not fake”.

“But we have to let her help out with Christmas-“

“-Like she isn’t gonna try to take advantage of us every step of the way-“

He spun to the pink ball making its merry jaunt-

“Darn it-“

“Can you keep track of her?”

“Like h* I wouldn’t”.

“Okay………”

Alex shifted…

“Alright”.

Sal turned to rush back to the Portraits.

Vero split in the opposite direction.

As for him?

The Aviator stood there for a few seconds, unsure of where exactly to go.

_…..Kinda low-key feeling like I’m just taking up space-_

-But he ended up going back with his blue-haired friend.

-

Sal slid a hand through the portrait, shivering at the wind on his skin.

“What’s going on over there?”

He tried to see over his shoulder-

“……….They’re hanging out”.

Some campers lounged on the green, others played tennis by the Dining Hall, and still more made crafts on a foldable table under a big tree.

“That’s…surprisingly not sinister”.

“Their grins aren’t real, though”.

“Oh?”

He quirked his neck further.

Ignored the ache-

“Oh”.

-Yeah, he could see them now.

Sal carefully positioned the mouth of the bottle so that it was poking _just_ through the picture-

“When this is at least halfway gone, we go”.

“Right”.

-He grasped the pink pusher at the other end and squeezed.

*

Rosy-tinted.

Pink bon bon silhouettes acting as a trippy mirage for those who inhaled-

It tasted like strawberry candy sweetened to the max, and Jaiden coughed.

“-!? W…hat the-“

Rene blinked next to her, holding a pair of scissors, and interrupted mid-lanyard-cut.

“……Why does it smell like-!?”

_Fructose corn syrup overdose on a stick._

-Then the memories hit.

-

“Is it supposed to do that?” Alex wondered.

“It’s the best we’ve got”.

Sal slipped a leg through the portal.

“-Man, that’s cold”.

-

Rene had to hold- _fast-!!_

“Nononono-!!!”

“-Jaiden, please-“

“We-“

“I know, but IT WASN’T US!!”

-They realized too late the eyes on them.

“-Pardon me, but who are you?”

Only minimal voice-shaking.

Good?

“….I’m Sal, and this is Alex”.

“-We can get you out of here”.

“What!?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tomorrow is Earth Day.


	29. Outside/Inside The Mind: Sweet, But Bitter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The two campers are found.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cw: Desire of suicide, existence erasure, implied past trauma. Death.

“-Bold of you to assume that I want to go back”.

Jaiden met their eyes with the clearest sincerity.

“I wanted to be dead”.

Alex ran through things to say in his mind-

Sal swallowed. **Hard.**

“……We have someone on our side who could help……….”

“Help me d-“

“DON’T say it!!”

Alex jumped.

_-He can yell._

“Just…..we’ll figure it out. Okay?”

The girl gave him an unimpressed look.

“Please?” Rene begged-

“Why should I when it always goes to s*?”

“Well, I’m alive-“ Alex began-

“Technically, you’re not here”, Sal reminded him.

“Ohhh….”

He smiled awkwardly, and backed more of him through the portrait.

“…..You silly man”, Rene sighed.

“…..Alex….”

She was not amused.

“I don’t want to do this anymore”.

“You won’t have to”, Sal promised, “If you go through here, no one will ever know you even left”.

Rene deflated a little at that-

“Yeah, I know”, Alex sighed, “But right now, it’s for the best”.

“-Did he tell you to say that?” Jaiden accused-

“I did not”.

“Who-who is this person-“ Rene tried to interject.

“It’s the Sugarplum Fairy, and she almost killed us”.

“I’m going”.

Sal and Rene gave Alex looks.

He shrugged apologetically?

-

“Good job”.

Floating in her giant bubble a good three hours later-

“I’m actually amazed you could do it”.

“Thanks”, Alex said politely.

“Uh, we kinda left Carol back there, though-“

“They’ll call the police on her soon enough if they haven't already”, she hand waved.

“……………………………..Okay”.

“Hey lady”, Jaiden spoke up-

“I heard you almost killed these guys?”

“Yes…?”

Sal rubbed his eyes.

“-Oh”.

She waved her wand-

_“Wait-“_

Multiple people cried out!

Vero sat back and watched-

“Good heavens!!”

The woman scowled.

“I’ll simply send her to her place in Reality, and it will be like she was never here at all”.

“YES, thank you-!!”

-They reluctantly backed off.

.

.

.

.

Rene watched Jaiden’s image fade into nothing.

The other Portraits shuffling in to fill the gap-

_How did it get like this?_

-

“…..Well”.

Alex wiped the sweat off his brow.

“We did that-“

“We did”.

Sal sat in thought.

Pensive.

“We sure did _something”,_ Vero cracked.

“So now we just have to go visit Death?”

Alex grimaced.

_Not looking forward to_ that _again-_

“Should be fun”, the Shadow Beast said.

“Don’t start”, Sal said automatically.

“-Are you ready?”

The Sugarplum Fairy pointedly flicked her wand.

“In a minute”, he ran a hand through his blue hair.

“Who’s going-“

“-It’s obvious, isn’t it?”

Vero nodded to Alex.

“He’s died like twice, the kid just got here-“

“Right….you’re right”.

Alex:

“…….Good luck, guys!”

“Yes, good luck to you”.

Rene _tried_ to smile-

“But not to worry~”

Miss Sugarplum grinned slyly-

“They won’t be alone”.

She wubbled aside to reveal an empty hallway-

And

Click

Click

**Click.**

Kirigiri Kyoko had arrived.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On a happier note, Happy Earth Day! And Happy Birthday to Plant Boi- <3 <3 <3


	30. Inside The Mind: Kirigiri

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She's back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cw: Death, leeches, graphic violence (brief). Flashbacking. Implied brainwash.

“Kirigiri-san…..”

Sal hadn’t seen her, in-

“Fisher-san”.

Not a trace of emotion in her tone.

“…..Are you all going somewhere?”

“-She tell you that?” Vero said plainly.

“No, you’re about to move off on your dominant foot, I can tell because the ball’s raised”.

-He did a quick check.

“Heh…..nice”.

……..Her expression didn’t change.

“-We think we have a way to solve this”, Sal tried to explain as best he could-

“All we have to do, is get there”.

“I figured as much”.

“-So how come you look like someone poured ketchup in your slacks?”

Ignoring Vero’s barb, she scanned Alex and Rene with a critical eye.

“Let me guess: You need someone to watch over these two while you’re both gone”.

“Exactly!” the Sugarplum Fairy sweetly confirmed-

“One question: Why are you working with the woman who smells like the candy flood that was here months ago?”

“Whoah…”

_She remembers that?_

Alex was impressed-

“We didn’t exactly have any other options that _wouldn’t_ end in disaster-and yes, I know this might too-“

Sal raced to justify.

“But so far, she’s delivered on one half of her end of the bargain, which is why we have Rene standing with us now”.

“What happened to Azura?”

-In full view of the missing Image.

Of course-

…………..No one spoke for a long while.

“She quit”.

The Sugarplum Fairy’s lips were pursed.

Kyoko digested that….

“I see”.

Alex looked at the floor.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………….

“………You two had better be sure of this”.

“If we weren’t sure, we wouldn’t have done it”.

Vero’s eyes were cold.

-

Rene stood there awkwardly, watching the Former-Ultimate Detective analyze the Portraiture changes in silence.

They met glances with Alex.

_…….He’s like me?_

-Technically, the long and short of it.

They’d _both_ been slated to die after all…….

The only difference being-

_He didn’t end up killing someone to make it here._

Their mood soured.

_I had no choice………………_

And yet.

They could still hear that **THUNK!** of an arrow as it impaled the chest of-

Rene shivered.

_That’s enough of that train of thought-_

………

The images, sequences of event were hard to push away, however-

Especially the final **SPLASH!** as Lucy’s limp body disappeared into the leech-infested lak-

Their bottom lip trembled-

But they did their best to hide it.

_Someone’s not having a good time._

They seemed icy, frozen with their emotions.

_-Thy name is DeStorm, huh?_

Luckily, he’d gotten good at figuring out others who’d relied on such tactics.

***Cough, cough*.**

(DeStorm).

He sent a reassuring smile their way.

Or at least he tried to-

They didn’t jump, they just….

Paused.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

They carefully returned one back.

It was small, but it was there-

_If you’re not smiling, you’re doing it wrong._

……Lucky thing he was still able to do it at all.

_We’ll make it…._ he promised himself.

_Made it this far, right?_

…………..Funny how Hope Sprang Eternal now.

_At this point, I’m not gonna question._

_Just be here-_

……And maybe help them too?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone's wondering why I'm up at 3 AM it's because I had a nightmare.


	31. Outside The Mind: Saints In Limbo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We get used to our new accommodations-kind-of.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cw: Semi-dirty joke, being trapped. Little anxiety.

Alice

They herded us inside, and shut the door.

………..

Andrea R.:

“Whoah”.

It was _huge._

There was this stained-glass bird taking up an _entire_ wall-

“Look at all the beds-!” Ro gasped-

“In any other circumstance, that would be funny”, Gabbie groaned.

“Don’ get too comfortable”, Ivy warned.

“Yeah, we know”.

The Mystic flopped onto a mattress, causing the springs to bounce.

Musically.

“Maybe she’ll talk us out of here....” the Jetsetter hoped.

“Maybe”.

I noticed that it had no windows.

“This is weird.....”

“What is?”

Gabbie kicked her heels off and rubbed sore arches.

“We can’t see out anywhere. And it’s like....they prepped for a lot more people to live here than just us-“

“Maybe they did”.

Andrea R. shrugged.

“At least they didn’t get any more”.

“Yeah”.

.....But I still knocked on a wooden bedpost anyway.

Ro hung her hat off the headboard-

“Hey look guys-! I did it!!”

“Nice one”, Ivy low-key cheered.

She looked at the colorful wall display, fingering her cutlass.

I rubbed my head, feeling awkward-

_Wonder if there’s a bathroom in here?_

.............I walked over to a nondescript door in the rear, and turned the knob.

Pulled it closed behind me-

-!??

_What the heck-_

Unlike the outside, they _had_ windows!

They were just...in a fuzzed quality-

_Why is this-!??_

I reached out to touch one and felt the colors scramble.

It felt-

_Fizzy-_

-I yanked my fingers back, and shivered.

_Holograms._

But what for?

_To discourage people from trying to escape through them?_

Probably, but why go to the trouble?

_They must be absolutely desperate._

But why would they care whether or not the Saints left-

_Incentive for their Chosen One to stay?_

.........At this point, I was just conjecturing...

_I wonder if they have a Token._

_Or a Token piece-_

Could we become lucky again?

_But there’s not much we can do from in here-_

If there was a way to let the others know where we _were-_

_.....Do I risk tapping into Dream things I DON’T know how to do?_

.......I mean, I could’ve asked Ivy...

(But I was shy-)

................I finally just decided to use the toilet in peace.

-After I locked-the door...

_You doof._

I washed my hands and walked back out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, how are you today?


	32. m A sS p An IC

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It happens again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another crack appeared-
> 
> Cw: Guns, language, memory loss.

"Who...Mystic...that's you, right?"

"Alice! What the h* happened?"

Mystic stares, confused-

"I...I don't know...I was just...at school, and then, I don't know-"

"Oh God”.

_Huh?_

"So it's not just me”.

_Wh- **Joey’s** here-?_

"Who is that?"

Another person runs in.

"That's my friend, Alice.

-Did you get to meet Sybille? She was one of the ones we rescued from Carol's clutches at Camp Happy Sunshine”.

-?

_…..Something about what she said…_

"I...think so?"

**_Bright sunshine, rope around my wrists._ **

-I shake my head to clear it-

"Interesting that I seem to be missing some memories too, since I don't remember much of the rescue, but nice to meet you, Alice.

I'm here to help, at least with Society business..."

"Thank you..."

"Hello? Is someone there? Manny, is that you, b*?”

_(Nikita. I know it, but how do I know? Someone should’ve been before her, but all I’m getting is candy-scented static-)_

"How--?"

-She runs out.

"Huh?"

We run out-

"What???"

"Oh my God! Is that Nikita?"

Sybille looks like a star just visited her town.

_(Someone else is supposed to be here too. But all I’m getting is **water).**_

"I thought you were with the Society!"

"Girl, as soon as my head cleared up, I got the f* out. But.....apparently they've got Bretman. Dunno about Manny. Is he here?"

“-Oh my God! Nikita!"

Joey envelopes her in a hug after speeding over-

“Nikita, what’s the last thing you remember?” Mystic asks-

“Girl, I don’t know. It’s like there’s a gap in my memory. A huge-a* gap”.

_….Does **everyone** have it?_

"Wait....is...is that the case with everyone? I have a huge gap in my brain as well, up until I was rescued”.

"So creepy..."

I gulp.

_Why-_

"Well.....I have two”.

_Nikita **how-!??**_

"But the first is from a while back. I don't remember anything about being rescued or whatever. If that helps. I woke up in the museum. Then I saw these red eyes and then I had another gap in my memory.

But when I woke up, you can bet your a* I got the hell away from Jael and Ryu”.

_Red eyes!??_

"The museum.....that was where Sybille and I woke up!"

"Yeah and Jael and Ryu attacked Mystic”.

_-Am I the only one stuck on the red eyes!?_

"An' Jael tried te 'ypnotize 'er”, Ivy finishes.

"Oh God....not this plant b*….”

-The Troublemaker and herself had bad blood?

“Shut up Nikita”, Mystic snaps.

She gets an eyeroll in response:

“So what do we do to kill them and get the f* out?”

"That's much more complex, I'm afraid”, Ivy sighs, “We gotta get the ovver targets first”.

"Which is a lot of people..." Sybille trails off.

"...Are they all in here?"

_Good question._

_**I** was, for some reason-_

"Who's another big target of the Society though?”

Poor Joey-

"'O do ye fink, savant? 'O are two a the smartest guests ye've 'ad?"

_Okay, Ivy-_

"Matt and....Safiya..."

** Ten minutes later. **

"Bingo”.

"Eva did a lot in S1..." I pointed out-

"Yeah, but Matpat literally got a perfect score on his SATs, so it's not a shock he's a big target”, Mystic shrugs.

_Whoah._

I’m flabbergasted-!!

"Wait....Nikita, were you alone when you woke up either of those times?”

_………..The silence lengthens until you can almost hear a pin drop-_

“No... I remember seeing someone else... but it’s foggy”.

_Like who?_

"That's.....weird. I remember waking up with Sybille, and I'm pretty sure she remembers seeing me”.

An accompanying nod-

"I didn't wake up with anyone..."

Now I’m gulping again-

"Why did everyone else wake up alone?” Mystic wonders….

"This is weird..." 

I shiver.

"Weird is one way of putting it”.

"Yeah, we all have this big-a* gap in our memories, and I have 2”.

“Two?”

"I explained it like 2 seconds ago”, Nikita tells me-

"I got confused..."

_Ahhhhh, don’t look at me like that I’m sorry-_

She groans, and I bite my lip.

"I woke up earlier in that museum and then got got by Jael. Then I woke up again and got the h* out”.

"Okay..."

"I wonder why the Museum, though?"

"Did the Collector corrupt them, like she did that Medusa lady?" I posit-

"I'd say the Collector is in cahoots for sure, but corrupting them? Not exactly”.

"They've always been a bit sketch”, Sybille chimes in.

"....I guess, but why would they work with her?"

"She's got power, why wouldn't they?" Mystic responds.

"I don't know, because it doesn't seem like they'd do this just for power..."

"If they want to take down the Cursed God, they would need it right?"

Sybille huffs.

"They'd do anything to get it - for this 'greater good' they claim”.

"Yeah, but...isn't he mostly defeated now? He was barely in S4, except for the box...and that's shut”.

“So was Joey”, I get reminded, “But he's here somehow”.

"If he's defeated, then this situation is even worse - considering the fact they are hoarding multiple, powerful artifacts! If they aren't fighting the Cursed God, they can do whatever they want with them now…”

Sybille’s words carry an air of **grim.**

"What do they want now?"

_What else is left-_

"They want some of the best of us”, Mystic answers, “-Oh, and me, for some reason”.

“Love”, Ivy scolds on cue, “Don’t sell yerself short. Yer amazin’”.

She blushes redder than a strawberry.

"Anyway, we don't have time to hang around..."

"You're d* right you don’t”.

_Who-?_

We spin.

Jale, Ryu, Bretman, Manny.

I could swear I’d seen those guns used before.

.

.

.

_(Or was it later..............................._

.

.

.

My head hurt.

I felt like-

It’d-

_**Happened** again-_

I stumbled on the floor, and crashed, feeling something sizzle beneath my feet.

I scrabbled, seeing the green burn mark smack in the door of the bathroom.

_What the-_

_What’s that-!?_

My head **HURT.**

I looked up and there were guns.

-!!

Was I-

I better have been hallucinating, like last time-

Oh no, there _was_ a last time-

Right-

Which meant-

But it’d **_seem_** real enough-

I got up on aching toes, and ran for the door.

But I didn’t see anyone.

I looked outside, and something grabbed for me.

A reddish glow-

Was that a-

Bird claw!?

“Guys!?”

“-Alice what are you doing-“

“Guys we have to go!! We’re about to be **_shot-“_**

“Wait-“

I grabbed an arm and yanked.

“Oookay, let’s NOT do that again-“

Somebody grabbed my arms.

I panicked-

“NO, hey, leggo-“

“Relax”.

I did NOT relax.

Until I saw the violet eyes-

“-!??”

“Hi there. I knew this would happen-“

-Abruptly, a shadow swallowed us up.

"Wha-Warning-!!"

"It'll be like no time-well okay, _some_ time-"

"Michael-!!!"

"Oh good".

He grinned, and it came out looking like the Joker.

"So you still remember me".

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof....guess who's gonna have a nasty headache for a while?


	33. BaNg

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This time, there is no interim.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cw: Gun violence, threats, hostage-taking.

“Wh-huh-what-huh-“

I couldn’t make myself talk in a complete sentence-

“You-how are you here-!??”

“I sensed a disturbance, and now here I am”.

He grinned…

Those closed eyes looked innocent, but I knew better.

“Where are we-!??”

I tried to make out anything beyond the empty darkness-

“In a Shadow Pocket”.

He said it as nonchalantly as if he were talking about the weather.

“Why are we in a Shadow Pocket-“

“Because we need to talk~”

“….”

The only reason I’d even recognized this guy was because I’d happened to come up with him for something unrelated to this whole mess.

“….About what?”

It could’ve been any topic from the sunshine to baiting the Devil himself.

Knowing him…

“About your uh, perception episodes”.

“............................................................”

_I’ve only had one...._

Two.

“What do you mean by ‘perception episodes’?”

“You hop realities”.

“I do what-“

“You hop realities-“, he repeated, “and leave behind holes for however long you’re gone. And things come _through_ these holes”.

“What-like what-“

I remembered the sizzling spot-

“I got lucky when that girl in yellow turned out to be quite harmless, but this one...well....”

He sighed.

“Genocider Sho would’ve been easier than her........”

“Wh....how-“

He snapped his fingers-

“Snip-snip-, or should I say-“

-Some kind of unholy noise cracked through the gloom.

“Pliers”.

He shrugged.

“Highly-imaginative, buuut, I’d say it’s rather lethal”.

“Where is she-“

“Oh-“

Michael grinned.

“Don’t worry”.

(I immediately worried-)

*

Ah-!??

**_Wh-_ **

“Oh b*…”

Ni....Nikita....

"Oh! We were going to rescue those guys!"

Sybille points-

"They don't want to be with you any more”.

-It’s more effective than a slap.

"That's mega baloney!"

"How do you know?"

Mystic’s eyes narrow-

Jael keeps cool.

-The two men pull out laser guns in synch, and aim them at the other two women.

"Well, that makes things much worse-“

“Don’t shoot!” I cry out-

"There's gotta be a way we can....you know....talk this out...."

Mystic’s panicking-

"Seriously?" 

I hear Sybille gulp as they advanced

"Guys - c'mon! Do you even know how to use those things?"

Mystic takes a step back.

"Why don't you just give the guns to me?" 

-Manny shifts his barrel further toward the poor fangirl...

“No, give them to me, not---" 

Mystic sighs.

"We should really work out the lack of communication between us”.

“Psst!”

I feel metal being shoved into my hand-

Ivy’s arming us.

A nodded signal, we draw-

“Ha! What are you gonna do now?”

Sybille grins.

Bretman fires.

BANG

"F*, that coulda got my hand!"

"Hand Mystic, Sybille, and Alice over to us”, Ryu says calmly, “Or we shall take them by force”.

"Fat chance”, is Ivy’s response-

BANG

BANG

BANG

So much shooting I could’ve sworn my ears were going to die.

"Manny! Bretman! C'mon! Stop this madness! Do you guys want to kill everyone here?”

Sybille pleads-!

"Or...injure everyone at least..."

Bretman swings his barrel toward me.

_Oh crap-!!_

"Oh f*!” I hear Mystic shout-

"Are you trying to kill me? I thought you needed me alive!"

“You silly girl”, Jael informs coldly, “Those are long-term paralysis guns”.

And they march....closer.

"Manny, Bretman.... You don't have to do this”.

Nikita’s looking desperate-

“Nikita”, Manny tells her robotically, “I love you”.

“You’re not gonna shoot me”.

She shakes her head-

I’m getting _serious_ Season 3, Ep. 9, vibes.

Of the last time they’d ever seen each other-

“Nikita, I love you”.

One shot to the heart-

“You’re not gonna shoot me, b*!”

-Manny’s suddenly thrown back against the wall!

Nikita calms-

“What the f*?” Mystic yells.

“She could’ve been killed”.

“We wouldn’t have to kill anyone of you”, Jael counters, “If you simply complied with us”.

_Yeah, yeah...keep spouting your righteous lies._

More bangs.

I fumble for a trigger as light bursts blitz through the air-

BANG!!

The recoil snaps up my arm, and I _know_ I’m lucky I hadn’t broken it.

“Anyone fires anything more...”

_-What?_

“And she dies”.

Somehow.

She’s managed to grab Sybille.

At knife-point to throat-

"Holy f*, these really _are_ actually competent villains”, Mystic whispers. . .

"Guys just shoot them in the head! They can't slit my throat as fast as you can shoot them!"

_Sybille....._

"Also I think you can live from a slit throat, but even if not, I don't care! Just drag them down with me!"

_No-_

Jael nails Mystic with her piercing gaze:

“Mystic, you _owe_ us. We’ve protected you from the Cursed God. This is your payment”.

_Sybille’s **life**!??_

“I don’t owe you s*!”

-She riddles blasts at the older woman’s feet.

It didn’t create a miracle save like I’m sure we were _all_ hoping-

The blade-

She digs it in further--!!

Sybille shoves her off!

_-Yes!! Nice-_

That could’ve ended so bad-!!

"Come on!"

-The echo of Jael thudding to the floor-

"We have to go!"

Mystic races out first, and we follow.

"Holy _s*_ \- holy s*-"

-At least Sybille sounds fine, but...

Can we really just _leave_ them all-!??

-Ivy’s dragging me along.

Nikita’s rapidly catching up-

"Time to make like a plane and jet”.

“What about Manny and Bretman!?”

I look back-

“They’re still being controlled!!”

I could _almost_ see them-

“Right now, there’s not much we can do. If we’re gonna save anyone, we need to get out now. Now come on! I think I know where we need to go next”.

_Like where!?_

“-Michael-!??”

“Still here-“

I was having trouble breathing.

“........Michael-“

“What?”

“-I-“

_It happened again._

_And all I can hear is gunfire._

_*_

“Who’s here now”.

Three little words, but I knew what they meant-

My job just got easier.

_And_ harder.

Michael

It was maroon this time, and right under her feet.

Barely moved to avoid the flash-

The break--

Whoever they were, their knees are bloody.

Alice’s eyes were wide--

_Snip! Snip!_

In the dark-

“Oh boy.....”

Right on schedule.

Then again....

I bet anyone would’ve felt a disturbance like that a mile away.

“Why-“

-There’ll be no good time to explain it.

The rest of it-

“Well-“

“Is that you~”

-Well, this was what I was worried about....

The girl in the green dress with the bloodshot eyes, I’d barely gotten to seal.

It would’ve been fine-

If another breach hadn’t happened so close-

Too close.

-Worse, they seemed to know each other.

“.....What are you doing?”

-Unlike Kate, the maroon one was chatty. . .

“So sorry, about this-“

I had to drop Alice and jump into the line of fire-

Or we’d have a _much_ more violent situation on our hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The tension's only gonna go up from here.


	34. Outside The Mind: Shadow Running

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Somebody risks his life, and Envy and C.P. catch up with the group.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cw: Blood, stabbing. Fighting, yelling.

-Ow.

My _ribs-_

“Michael!???”

Her cry faded into nothing.

-Well, it wasn’t like I was going to let her fall to her death or anything. . .

I’d just be a bit delayed in the rescuing, that was all-

Very...um..... _delayed._

“-Purple squirrel”, the green one scolded, “Why did you do that!?”

Those bloodshot eyes snapped-

“Now you’re hurt”.

“Better me than her~”

_Grin._

-I guess they didn’t seem to appreciate that too much.

“Hmph!”

-I got tossed...

Sure hoped no one would be hanging out waaaay to the left, otherwise they were in for quite the bloody shower.

“Caroline!? Stop-“

I saw a red flash-

Oh dear.

Hmm...

Maybe-

-I threw a smoke bomb in their general direction, and prepared to go deep-diving.

Alice

Plummeting through space is flat-out scary!!!

I couldn’t see anything-

(I thought I’d be sick, but I wasn’t).

I grasped at edges that weren’t there, how far did shadow pockets even go-!??

_“Michael-!???”_

.....Was this what it had felt like for Envy, all alone in the dark for so long?

Anxiety crawled up my throat-

“HEY-“

I thudded into a pair of arms.

“Hello again-“

“What happened-!??”

He grimaced.

“I’ll fix it later-“

“Later-!??”

-It took me a minute to realize.

I wasn’t falling anymore.

“What’s going on....!??”

“Sigh.....”

-We crashed.

The impact rattled up my bones, and he landed squarely on his face, arms out.

“.....Are you okay-“

-He said something, but it came out muffled.

“What-“

“-I groaned”.

“Oh”.

I scrambled off, and tried to help _him_ stand-

“My bones crack like an old man’s-“ he happened to say-

**_Completely_** seriously.

“They do?”

“Unfortunately....”

He swept his cloak tighter around himself.

“-To answer your question....someone from another timeline has been trying to take you away”.

“What-!?”

“I’ll explain _that_ when I get back”.

And he flew off again.

“Wait- _be careful-!!!”_

-Of course, this guy would _never_ be careful....

Oy.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

Left alone...now....

_Eerie._

....I didn’t like it.

_Who in the world would want to...._

My stomach **hurt.**

_Jael....?_

-Would she do what she’d done _there..._ here?

I’d already been suspicious of her since the Island.....

It wasn’t that big of a stretch for me to believe.

-And the others didn’t _know..._

But I could’ve been really wrong, too.

For all I knew-

I tried to walk around.

Just a little, feeling restless.

I didn’t want to get myself lost.

My heart had been banging itself into my rib cage for a while.

_Hope everyone’s okay._

_Wherever they are._

Envy

“-Did they get a lead or something!?”

“Beats me”.

Candy Pop scuffed at the grass-

“It’s not like you can leave footprints out here”.

“No...but you _can_ leave flat trails”.

I dropped to one knee-

“And they went. . .”

Or rather, _Gabbie_ had-

“That way”.

I pointed into a stand of trees.

“-You think she found them?”

“It would explain a few things....”

“Cool”.

He started to sprint-

“Be careful-!”

_Just because Carol’s not paying attention to us anymore doesn’t mean the danger isn’t-_

I heard a THUD.

_Still...there...._

Candy Pop

“Ow...”

If I wasn’t getting shot at, I was falling down a hole.

“Ow, ow, ow-“

I crawled loose of the thing I’d crashed on-

“Are you okay?”

Running footsteps.

“Yeah. . .I’m good. . . . . . . . . .”

I slowly stood up.

“I tripped...I don’t _think_ I broke my ankle-“

“Phew...”

He sighed.

“Haven’t you seen by now?

Running off like this-“

“Yeah, yeah...”

I rotated my knee.

“I can still move”.

-And that reminded me.

“I don’t think I said this already.

But...was it you who healed that gun wound?”

“Huh-? Yes....”

“.....Thanks”.

“It’s nothing. . .”

He was acting shy, but what else is new?

“Saved me from being stuck with ‘Christmas Cheer’, or whatever”.

“I always had a bad feeling about them-“

We continued down the trail again.

“-Any estimates for how behind we are?”

“I have no idea...that sh-shadow could’ve messed with time-“

“Right”.

We catch up to a bunch of people talking bloody murder over each other.

_Business as usual, folks!_

“-What are they fighting about now...” I heard him mutter under his breath-

“Who knows”.

I shrugged-

“-the h* are we supposed to find anyone when it feels like everyone was in Panicville?"

That was Aoi talking, for _sure-_

"We could each try cover a part of the woods. Sybille, Trig, and the rest of us know this place pretty well, not by choice, but all the same”, said Yana-

"Do you have a map of the forest?”

Manny asking-

"I think one of us does. Let me get it out-“

"WOULD YOU ALL SHUT YOUR TRAPS AND LISTEN TO ME FOR ONE SECOND?!?!"

Eh-

Oh.

It was Delta.

"I know where Gabbie went”.

"Well then why didn't you tell us sooner?" Nikita snapped-

"Excuse me, Miss Wig Snatcher, but A. I just got here, and B. You all treat me like I don't even exist!"

Ha-

That was actually a good one.

"We're sorry, we've just been in all of this chaos”, said Joey.

"Where did she go?"

Now we had Safiya with the invisible mic-

"See, I'd show you, but I twisted my ankle on a rock”.

Someone carry her-

"Let me see”.

Lilith ran over, panicked-

The sight under that pantleg was as bad as it looked-

"Oh, you poor dear!"

Wha-HAHAHAHAHAHA-

"I'm so sorry I didn't speak to you earlier”.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA-

"I can take you back to the cabins and watch over you”.

"-But I'm the only one who knows where the clearing is!”

_Boy,_ that lady could coddle.

_180 much?_

"Delta's got a good point. Your name's Delta, right?"

-A nod.

"We're not gonna be able to find them without her”, Safiya asserted.

"But the sweet girl's in so much pain. Look at her ankle! She's in no condition to walk”.

Lilith was adamant.

(I snickered).

_Sorry Mystic, you’ll have to wait in line now-_

But seriously, though.

We needed to find these people before they _stayed_ disappeared for good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Memorial Day. <3


	35. Jumping Through Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> -When a dead end appears, another way is found!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cw: Infantilizing, heights, stalking worry. The dark, and being loud. And language, maybe.

Envy

“You and I can support her”, Safiya decided.

And they did.

"Okay, show us where they went, please?”

-I had to say, I didn’t have much faith in Joey...

But at least we were off.

“-What’s so funny?”

C.P. had a weird expression-

He put a finger to his lips, and pointed ahead.

"Darling, that's the twentieth time you've tried to walk on that foot. Putting weight on it will only make things worse”.

"I'm not used to only using 1 leg”.

"I know, I know, but you'll need to rely on others for support”.

"I'm not a kid, Lilith”.

"But you're incapacitated”.

"That doesn't mean you can talk to me like a child”.

"We all need a little fawning and coddling now and then, sweetie. Plus, you're rather adorable”.

"I'm a grown woman”.

"That doesn't mean you're not cute”.

“...”

_-So if she’s not being evil, she’s being **annoying.**_

“Nothing wrong with this”, he whispered, “Perfectly normal and acceptable behavior”.

“......Why is no one else reacting?”

“Because they do it themselves all the time-“

-We got suspicious looks.

Of course, we did.

I sighed-

He smiled back innocently.

_-I don’t think anyone believed it._

-This was here the whole time?

"She fell into that tree at the top of the hill. I saw it with my own two eyes”.

This clearing-

"I mean, we've seen weirder s*”, Safiya admitted-

I tuned out the patronizing encouragement, and tried to think-

_Who or what could have pulled off something so odd?_

-I was vaguely reminded of Alice in Wonderland.

_I’ll be wanting to make my way there at some point-_

It wouldn’t surprise me if the Queen of Hearts had a kind of obsession or something.

_Most trees are nice anyhow, so-_

"-How the h* could she have fallen down a tree?"

Bretman was sounding incredulous.

Did he not hear her when she said-?

"There's probably a hole in it or something”.

_-That’s what I was thinking...._

"Really? Cuz I don't see anything but bark”.

_-Well no kidding._

The kidnappers wouldn’t be leaving their hideout open for just anyone.

“Okay, so what do we do?”

I’d been pulled aside-

“Maybe there’s a trigger?”

“You mean like, a secret lever?”

“Could be-“

_It could just as easily have decided it felt like kidnapping people today._

“But I think I have a better idea-“

“Oh yeah?”

He’d raised an eyebrow, but the smirk said different.

“I can track her dream trail-“

“Ooh!”

I nodded.

“It can’t hurt to have more than one plan for finding them. . .right?”

“We off, or what?”

I concentrated-

I waved my hand, and a rip appeared.

Soundless-

One of the reasons why I hadn’t been detected back in that H* of a workshop.

I stepped in, bringing her to mind. . .

It’d be the first time I actually did this.

_Alice...._

Her smile, her eyes, her laugh-

_Are you here?_

Her kindness....

_It’s me-_

Her light.

_We’re coming to find you! Please don’t worry..._

Alice

In the dark, again. . .

Just me?

Or was it getting....cold.

I was starting to be nervous.......

_More_ nervous.

_I’m sure everything’s fine..._

I tried to reassure myself.

_He’s probably just having a little more difficulty than he thought returning those two to their worlds...or something like that-_

Were the others having that much difficulty tracking us down?

How would I even know-

_‘Alice’-_

“WHAT-“

Not only did I _jump_ , but I yelped loudly enough to wake the dead.

_‘Alice?’_

“..........”

-Now I wasn’t planning on talking.

What if it was another obsessive creep?

_‘It’s Envy-‘_

“-It is?”

I felt relief rush through me-

“Where are you? Where is everyone? Are they okay-“

_‘They’re fine....we’re in the Dream World, C.P. and I......’_

I let out a breath.

“How close are you?”

_‘.....Can you glow?’_

“Glow?”

_‘Summon fire’._

“Um-“

I held up my hands.

“I can try-“

-It flickered to life strong enough to singe my eyebrows!!

“Whoah-!”

_Sorry, Ciel-_

I knew I was stressed, but-

_That_ stressed?

“Do you see it?”

Envy

“-!!”

I did _not_ expect the sudden flaring of blue-

“Did you contact her?”

C.P. hopped from one rock to another-

I’d come back to the unfinished world on instinct. . .

Other dreams floated by in a transparent haze.

“Yes-“

That was odd.....

“What’s the hitch?”

-It was that apparent on my face, was it?

“It’s inconsistent-“

“Well what’s going on over there?”

“I don’t know”.

I walked out into the air.

_I see you-_

_Sit tight, we’ll be there soon._

“-How are you doing that!?”

“Doing what?”

“That!!”

“Huh-“

-I looked down.

“-Oh yeah”.

_“Oh yeah,_ how are you doing that!??”

I was basically standing on nothing.

“Well....”

_What’s the best way to explain-_

“It has to do with knowing Dream magic...”

“-So I’m gonna fall if I follow you?”

“Not if you hang onto me”.

“Oh fun”.

-He took a flying leap, and nearly knocked me over.

“Whoah-whoahh...”

“-You okay?”

“As long as I don’t look down, I will be good”.

His fingers dug into my arms-

“Does it go on forever, or-?”

“By some weird occurrence, if you _didn’t_ land in another universe, you’d be blown back out....I think-“

“That is surprisingly merciful”.

“It _is_ run by a different set of rules. . .”

“Under whose authority?”

“No one knows...”

I pushed off with my heel.

C.P. sneezed at the burst of leaves.

“Sorry about that-“

“It’s fi-nnnneeeeeeee-!????”

_And_ hyper-speed.

Alice

_Did it work?_

_‘It worked-‘_

_Oh good._

I swallowed my fear-

_How soon will you get here?_

_‘Going as fast as we can-‘_

_(FAST IS RIGHTTT-)_

...Was that Candy Pop?

_‘Yes, that was him’._

Envy sounded like he’d had his poor ear drums blasted.

_Oh no._

I couldn’t help but laugh-

_Are you having a nice trip?_

_‘Trying to-‘_

_(HEY!)_

_‘-Sensitive ears, okay!?’_

Pfft-

_I’m glad you’re having fun-_

_(Envy is a SPEED RACER!!)_

_‘Who?’_

-I heard a loud THUD.

_(OW-)_

_‘Oh!’_

_Guys?_

I whipped my head around from one voided side to the other-

_What happened? Was that you-_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Tuesday-Wednesday!!


	36. Timelines

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They've found each other. Now what?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cw: Guns, brain erosion discussed. Language.

Candy Pop

_Note to self:_

_Don’t let Envy **drive-**_

The dude flew like it was the fr*n Autobahn-

“-Are you okay?”

“Shall I be sick?”

“Oh....”

He looked sheepishly up from the black mass he’d just plowed into-

I was amazed he could Spider-man stick to the thing!

-At least, that his _boots_ could.

“Sorry....”

“It’s fine, but surprising, coming from you”.

“H-huh!?”

“-How do we crack this egg?”

He blushed green, but turned back to the problem at hand anyway.

“U-um....hm....”

-He knocked on it.

“Solid?”

“Kind-of. . .”

-He shuddered.

“-Could Alice hear that?”

“I’m about to find out”.

Alice

_Hello?_

-After the loud noise, there’d been quiet.

_Are you guys okay?_

**_KNOCK._ **

****

I jumped-!

_-Was that you!?_

My hands sparked fire again-

_‘-Did you hear that?’_

_Yes!!_

_‘-She heard it’._

Relaying to C.P.?

_‘-This looks like some kind of shadow’._

_It is! Michael made it-_

_‘Michael?’_

_He’s all in purple-_

_‘What?’_

_-I could ask him to let you in._

I fidgeted, nervous, but excited, too-

_‘Is he trustworthy? Did he hurt you--’_

_He’s nice...kinda. No, he hasn’t hurt me. I actually know him from somewhere-_

_(What’s she saying?)_

-I waited for an answer. . .

_‘We can try to break in-‘_

_Maybe...but, um-_

See, there was a slight problem-

_If you make it split, we’ll get dumped out with the odd bird people._

_(Did you just say ‘Odd Bird People’-)_

_‘Say what?’_

_Well...._

I sighed.

_A hole appeared in a tree, and ate Mystic, Ivy, and Andrea R._

_Ro and I went down together, and then Gabbie-_

_‘So **that’s** where she went! Delta was right-‘_

_Yeah._

I nodded, although I knew that they couldn’t see me-

_Turns out, there are these bird people thinking that Mystic is their Savior, and we’re her Saints._

_We got shut up in some room, or whatever, while she talks to their leader._

_‘Who is?’_

_A lady named Emmy. You can’t miss her, she’s platinum-blonde, and in white._

_(-Put her on the list of ‘People-To-Avoid’-)_

_Anyway, if its damaged, we’ll probably be spilled back into that locked place._

_‘Okay....’_

Wonder what he’s thinking.

_(Purple Boy better hurry up and get here)._

_Pfft. Same._

“-Hi-“

A violet blur swung into view-

I about leaped out of my skin!

“Michael-!!”

“You’re not dead”.

“Nope”.

I noticed he’d patched up the wound by whipping around a section of his cloak.

“-Are you going to be okay?”

“I’ve had worse!” he said cheerfully.

_-What constitutes as ‘worse’!?_

I gulped.

“Um...”

“Hmm....?”

“-A couple friends of mine are stuck outside of your shadow thingy in the Dream World, and can you please let them in?”

He stared at me.

“-Let in?”

“Yes. Please?”

“-Might these friends be the Goth and the Alice clone?”

“Uh-“

_Never heard them called **that** before-_

_(-What did he say!??)_

_‘-He’s finally here?’_

“Yes?”

“Hmmmmmmmmmm-“

I stood there on the edge of my seat.

“Okay”.

“Yay!”

I beamed-

“Thank you!”

“-Only doing this because they’d break in here anyway, by the way-“

“I know”.

Candy Pop

_“Alice clone!??”_

“. . . . . .”

“What is the silence supposed to mean!???”

“Um. That’s a line-“

He pointed.

Yes, it was indeed a line-

A white line.

It looked like a moon crescent was magically appearing...

“What _is_ that?”

-Were we about to have _Alien_ all up in here?

“A seam-?”

-Somebody popped out of the gap as the two halves split.

“-!??”

GLOMP.

(This was a new green, even for him).

“Wh-A-Alice!?”

“Hi!! I missed you guys-“

“Are you going to hang from there like growths for very long?”

-The deadpan voice belonged to a certain familiar, purple hijacker.

“You!!”

“-Hello”.

A devilish grin, which was _my_ trademark-!!

“Yeah, that’s him....” Envy said quietly.

C’mon, what were the odds we’d see _this_ guy again?

“-What the h*-“

“She had another one-“

“Eh!?”

“I had two-one in the Bird Lair, and one in the Shadow....but I think-pretty sure I’m not seeing things or hearing things anymore, and nobody’s stuck”.

We looked at each other, the Plant Man and I-

“They were right after each other. . .”

Alice chewed on her lip.

“Are you alright?” Envy asked in concern-

“I’ll be okay”.

“That’s good....”

“-What were they of?”

I knew what I’d heard from the Purple Riding Hood over there, but-

“Right-“

His eyes lit up.

“.....”

Her face immediately fell.

“-So apparently someone with red eyes is kidnapping people for the SAE, and Jael and Ryu are now evil, and there was this stuff on a Museum, where Mystic and Sybille were, but they were busted free by Ivy, and then we found Nikita, and had a gun match with a brainwashed Bretman and Manny, and now we have to escape the Bunker-“

-I must’ve looked like 0o0 the whole time!??

“It’s another Au, or something like that, they tried to take me but it didn’t work very well I guess, so now it’s like this-these flashes?”

“......I heard it could...put holes in your brain-“

“Yup”, Purple Jester agreed-

Lover Boy gently cupped her cheek.

“We can’t let that happen”.

“Agreed, but I have _one_ question-!!”

I prodded Michael, or whomever his name was, in the chest-

“Owch-hands off-!!”

“How did you even have a clue this was going on?”

“No poking-“

He scowled at me, but it was for like, a half-second...

......Was that blood burning through fabric?

_What happened-_

“-He said people were being sucked in from other worlds because me being pulled in then out left holes-“

“Yeah, but? How’d he even get wind that there _were_ holes-“

Purple Boy smiled even more-

“Let’s just say I wasn’t the one who noticed first”.

“That doesn’t tell us anything-“ Envy protested-

“-Ah, well, if I told you, they might be in danger-that’s the way it is with these types of things...only, you _are_ taking to it a bit differently, Alice, than the others-“

“Others?”

Alarm-

“Mmhm...Nikita, and the other two were merely the tip of the iceberg, there’s many more trapped, alters of who are assumedly here and undertaking something else”.

“You’d _think_ we would’ve been done by now”, Envy muttered.

Michael raised an eyebrow, but didn’t comment-

“Except you. And him-“

“-Envy?”

“Yup-though _that_ one is probably because where you go, he goes”.

“And-for me?”

He sighed, sat back in void space, and rested there.

“I can only assume you unconsciously tried to resist. Meaning that these moments won’t end until the Au you’re in at this moment runs to a decided conclusion”.

“O....kay......”

-Sounded like a bunch of Sci-Fi s*.

“So why holes?”

She grimaced slightly.

“Why holes in my _head-“_

“Strain”.

“Ohh...”

“And a way to _prevent_ that?”

I prompted-

“You’d have to go find someone with a wealth of healing knowledge and power”.

I couldn’t read his expression, d* it-!!

“-And don’t _you_ three need to deal with more pressing issues than my exposition, hmm?”

F*, he was right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It is Wednesday, and I am hyper.


	37. We Have Chaos On Our Side

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I try to convince someone to help us.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cw: Stalker worries. Heights. Forced marriage worry. Language.

Envy

“Huh-Oh!!”

-Yeah, it occurred to me right then...

“We need to figure out our next move-“

“Yeah”.

C.P. rubbed his head.

“You want to go back and tell everyone?”

“...”

“Tell everyone what?”

Alice blinked, confused-

“The hole in the tree isn’t there anymore”.

“What!??”

“Yup, it’s disappeared-“

The Demon shrugged.

“For all we know, they’re still trying to figure out something else”.

“-But I wanted to try this, so-“

I gulped.

“..............We found you...it’d.....probably be a little harder to get the others in here, though...”

“I can vouch for that-“

Yes...he could.

I blushed-

Alice smiled.

.........I blushed _more-_

“M-maybe i-if we found a place where you could make a shadow. . .and then. . . . . . . . .”

“And then?”

Michael had one eye open, pondering...

“Put it in a wall so we could let them in that way-“

“Oh?”

I didn’t like his tone-

“What makes you think I’m going to do that for you?”

“Wh-“

“The world isn’t in danger of ending, after all-no one’s escaping to do havoc-“

“We can’t stop the Cursed God if we’re split up”.

“-Who?”

“-!!”

Alice stumbled back in **shock-**

“Ah, careful-!!”

I caught her with vines before she could fall into the darkness.

“Never heard of this man, I have not-“

Michael was nonchalant.

“You _should_ be afraid”, Candy Pop said.

“Never met him”.

“How-“

“He-he wants to do really bad things to where I live-“ Alice stuttered-

“Hmm?”

“He’ll corrupt the world if he wins-um, these bird people, they might keep us all captive forever-“

“Bird people?”

“-If we get stuck here for too long, he might track us down, and _then_ there’d be escaping. And havoc”.

“..........................................................................................................................................................”

_Oh come on, just answer already-!_

“What does this ‘Cursed God’ want with you?”

“Not with me-“ Alice corrected-

“With a best friend of mine. He has to like, marry her, and gain her trust to put down a barrier to invade where I, and she, and a lot of others kind-of spent half our lives in, and if he does that, then he’ll corrupt it, and that would be very bad”.

“-Did you know your explanations ramble?”

“Uh-“

“Is that a yes or a no?” C.P. yelled.

“It’s an I-D-K”.

The Purple Boy’s grin had faded into a -_-

“-You’d be causing chaos for the Head Bird....”

“.................? Chaos?”

“Yeah”.

Alice twisted her arms.

_-How does she do that...?_

“A lot”.

_Doesn’t that hurt-!??_

“It’d make Emmy really mad-“

“Hmmmmm?”

“So mad she’d blow a gasket-“

“How far?”

C.P. **stared.**

_How is she doing that!?_

I _knew_ we were both thinking it-

“To the Moon and back, I’d bet”.

“Oooooh, really?”

“Mmhm”.

-I was amazed.

“I _did_ send those two home. . .”

“Yeah?”

“My schedule _is_ free-“

“So....can you do that? For us, please?”

“Hmmmmmmmmm............................”

I nervously waited for him to reply-

“I _could-“_

“FINALLY!!!” Candy Pop screamed to the Heavens-

“God, you took so f*ing _forever-“_

“I _can_ take longer-“

**“NO”.**

He straightened up, unlinking his arms from behind his head.

“Well then”.

-He popped the shadow-!!??

“-!!!”

“YOU SON OF A-“

I managed to catch C.P. before he could slip too deep-

Michael had Alice under an arm.

“Lead the expedition, good Sirs-“

“I _swear_ I’m gonna kill you-“

“Save it ‘till later, please?”

I let out a breath.

“No fighting”.

_That’s all they ever do...fight...._

I spun on my heel.

“Let’s go”.

Michael

_We might not have a rocket ship, but we’re going on a trip~_

Fun times, was I right?

_-I don’t know why I’m being glared at._

_Aren’t I helping?_

Some chaos is good for the soul, you know?

-We flew like birds, because why not.

_Goodbye worlds, we love and loved you-_

“We’d better be careful about this....”

The Plant Man looked pensive.

For some reason.

“This whole deal might make them suspicious. . .”

“Well as far as they are aware I’m just a random weirdo you all found”.

-The Alice Clone snorted.

“Yeah. A random weirdo who can _manipulate shadows-“_

“It’s not strange if you don’t make it strange~”

“-How much farther until we hit solid ground?”

“No, you can’t strangle him”.

“-But-I want to-“

_Yes, this will be **quite** the fun adventure._

_Won’t it._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy early Thursday!!


	38. Inside The Mind: Leaving For Death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time to find that book.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cw: I know what the title sounds like, but it's not that. Discussion of insanity. Death, being dead. Brief eating mention.

“You boys ready?”

Sharp, candy-colored eyes.

“Yeah, yeah, just get it started”.

Vero folded his arms.

“Alright.....”

She waved her wand, and a sparkling, pink orb spiraled into being at the end.

“........”

Sal watched it, wondering-

“.............!”

She winked.

Vero rolled his eyes-

It grew until it could’ve almost fit into the palm of someone’s hand, then pulled free with a sticky-sound POP!

Sal blinked.

The other party looked _disgusted._

“Niiiice Orby~”

Her glittered nails glided over the head of the swirling critter, and one could have sworn that it purred.

_What is that, a cat!?_

Of all the things the Shadow Beast had ever seen, this was now becoming the _bizarrest._

It fluttered around her face, leaving a sugary halo, then zipped off down the hallway.

She hummed under her breath, contented.

“......The H* was that?”

“Our way in, or shall I say-down?”

The woman began to flitter away. . .

-The two guys hurried to catch up!!

-

_I am_ **_never_ ** _eating candy again._

-After what felt like _hours_ of smelling the sweet stuff, it had been ruined for him...forever......

_How much closer are we, anyway!??_

If they kept it going like this for even longer, he was going to lose his mind-

_I_ ** _already_** _lost it!!_ -he corrected.

-Now he was going to lose it again.

_Sheesh._

“-Ooop, here we are~”

“About stinking time”, he muttered-

The three of them paused in front of a plain sheet of glass.

“This is what will take us to whatever’s next?”

Sal peered into its crystalline depths.

-Which _didn’t_ look like anything more than their _reflections_ from where they were standing-

“Yup!”

The Sugarplum Fairy nodded, and he could’ve bet on _anything_ her neck made a silvery-tinkling sound.

“-Don’t you trust me?”

_No._

But *sigh*....

What choice did they honestly have. . .

“How do we make it work?”

Vero stabbed a claw into the frame-

“Be gentle...!” he was scolded.

“If you break it-“

“Do we just walk in, or what?”

She huffed.

“Put your hand in-“

So he did.

“-!??”

The ‘sinking-into-quicksilver’ feeling made him shiver.

_Okay. That’s different-_

He slipped through.

He involuntarily held breath, even though it didn’t really matter.

-Then it was Sal’s turn.

_We can do this_ , he told himself.

_We’ve made it this far._

.........He was secretly still amazed by it.

And soon....

_Death child,_ she smirked, _here we come..._

The fairy flapped inside.

...

The surface of the mirror stilled.

Their reflections were fading. . .

The halls were silent, once more.

*

A month of silence, and someone who _isn’t_ staying dead arrives.

That’s the second occasion.

“…Dare I ask?”

I had hoped last time _was_ the last time, but . . .

“….Or did you want me to charge Admission?”

“Very funny”, a tinkling voice says.

I look up.

“Well, well”.

Aside from the infamous Fairy (by now), I spy her other two companions- familiar faces to me…

“I’m surprised the both of you came back”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have a Happy Sunday!


	39. Outside The Mind: Don't Worry (Please, Actually Don't, Nothing Really Bad Happens I Promise)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alice's dreams crumble in on themselves. Or do they?
> 
> Also, I am very sorry for the Title.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cw: Being anxious. Initiate panic phrase at the end.

“Uh-oh-we’re losing you”.

Four little words.

_Oh no..._

“What do you mean!?”

I watched violet eyes grow dimmer...and dimmer.....

“Guys! Come back!!”

*

They did not come back.

Strange fabric was on me. . .

I looked down to see a dark, feathery robe over my knees.

_When did I put this on again?_

I didn’t know-

Alice

Some kind of hat drooped on my forehead.

My face felt like it’d been dusted with make-up.

_Is this ‘Saint’ attire, or something?_

-It was the only viable explanation _I_ could think of...

_Where am I?_

-Well.

There _were_ stairs...

My eyes were nearly popping out of my head at the giant crystals.

Gabbie, Ro, and Andrea R. were dressed similarly to me-

Ivy was not.

_She’s probably too tall for them._

I almost laughed.

Almost.

-I could’ve laughed or cried, I thought. . . .

_So it wasn’t real?_

I felt like I’d woken up from a really good dream.

Again.

_Aww. . . ._

I pinched myself through the sleeve.

_Ow-_

I wasn’t dreaming now...

I looked at the other women.

_...Should I ask?_

I was afraid to-

_I don’t want to make them worried._

Things were weird already-

I followed their gazes to where Emmy and Mystic were hugging like they’d known each other all their lives.

_-What happened?_

At least nothing bad was going on between them?

_It’s **just** hugging, right?_

No hypnotic fakeness attached.

Or something like that.

I shifted around awkwardly, until eventually, somebody decided to start walking.

-Most likely Gabbie, because the look she was giving could’ve bordered on ‘ _I hate you so much/let’s get this over with’._

_Does she not like the clothes?_

She stomped up there in her bird heels.

_Yeah, she doesn’t like the clothes._

I stood beside Mystic.

She’d gotten a make-over also.

As dark as our clothes were, hers were white, gold-detailed, and ethereal.

"Are you all comfortable?"

I nodded-

"Good--"

-!??

_Yelling??_

Sounded like it was coming from just above our heads.

"It sounds as though it's coming from the foyer. Wait here. We may have more saints”.

She and her hench-people descended as one unit, and the silence quickly sank in.

_What do I do._

The racket was very loud.

_Is everybody okay!?_

Wondering made my head start to ache.

_Please tell me everyone’s okay-_

‘There you are’.

-A faint whisper in my ears.

_Michael?_

‘No, I can’t read minds’.

I tried to sneak a peek behind me.

I caught a brief flash-

‘Hang on-‘

I felt arms around me, and I jumped.

“There we go”.

“-Huh?”

I realized everything had gone quiet.

“Rather a disorienting end, don’t you think?”

“....Yeah-“

-I could only assume he was talking about my unplanned departure.

“Not to worry~”

He grinned, violet-white teeth shining...

“I get to tell them what I knew-“

“Was it real?”

I _had_ to know-

“That moment in the Shadow-was it real. . .”

“...It was in the Dream World. A World Between Worlds...one of them, at least”.

“....?”

So...

“Yes, it was real”.

-Wanting to cry out of being sad had turned into relief.

“Thank goodness...”

“Speaking of, they’re very confused-“

“About what?”

“When your perceptions merged back with reality, you dissolved like Swiss Cheese”.

_Eek. . ._

“-Then we got ejected with violent force, and I’m pretty sure one of us left a dent in a tree”.

“Ow-“

“I know. Such fun”.

I winced.

“But how are you doing this-“

“Silly-I’m still floating on that other plane”.

A finger poked my cheek.

“You can only ‘talk’ to me because you’ve got The Power, and I _want_ to be seen-“

“They can’t see or hear you?”

I waved a hand at Ivy’s elbow-

It went right through.

Annnnd she didn’t react.

“Uhhh....”

“That’s normal”.

“....Is it easy to get back?”

“It is-“

“-Is everyone gonna be okay?”

It burst out of me.

. . .

“.....I can’t promise that”.

I nodded....

Much more subdued, this time.

_I should’ve known that....definitely......_

“The upside is, you’ve got your Confirmation, yeah?”

“Yeah. . .”

“Perfect”.

_-I swear he’s trying to outdo the Cheshire Cat._

“Goodbye...”

“Bye...”

“-Just a teensy minute”.

A wink, and he dissolved into pale pieces of glass.

The world rippled.

The calamity returned.

_Don’t panic._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Wednesday!! It's a very sleepy day today.


	40. Outside The Mind, Another Perspective: Get Out Of Dodge (So A Twist Will Appear, Plus Other, More Underestimated Things)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Outside of the Safe(?) Haven, things are getting wild.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cw: Language, innuendo. Limb horror. A death wish, gun violence.

Envy

I-I-what-

_Is-happening-Alice’s- **eye-**_

It’d disappeared!

Eaten away-

“Eww-that’s brilliant!” Candy Pop observed-

“What’s going on, _stay with us-!!”_

The black ash eating her up moved from eye to **face.**

_“Alice!??”_

It rapidly moved down her body as I frantically tried to catch her hands!

Stop this---

Not even her shadow was left.

I couldn’t keep from staring-

“-I think I know where she went”, Michael said after a pause.

A shockwave ripped through us-

*

The impact _rattled_ through my bones.

“OW-!!”

-That was the Demon-

The _Stuck_ Demon.

“Well that was fun”.

I heard a rustling. . .

I pulled myself up to sitting to see someone in an elf outfit with their legs planted upside a tree.

Two branches hung Michael by the arms-

“Hello friend”.

He waved-

“How are you today?”

“....”

I felt my forehead.

Everything was. . _.fuzzy-_

“....What was that-“

“Alice got sucked back into Fiction, that’s all”.

He hopped down.

“. . . .?”

Candy Pop dazedly stuck one foot onto the ground.

Then the other.

Then he rolled over.

_“Owww....”_

“Who left the hole in the truck!??”

I gaped-

“Hmm. . .”

The guy in purple crouched-

“Who has heels-“

_Oh no._

_It was **me-**_

“I’m so sorry!!”

“OW-I’m alive-“

C.P. stood up.

Haltingly-

“Are we alive?”

Michael had a hand to his mouth.

_. . .Is he snickering?_

He straightened.

“As I was saying, I think I know where she went”.

“You can find her?”

“Yes, Echo, I can”.

I blushed-

He snapped his fingers.

Started to fade-

“See you both later~”

“What-“

C.P. spun around just in time to see him vanish completely.

“Wh-HEY!!”  
“-Who’s yelling?”

-That wasn’t him.

_Or_ me.

“Huh...?”

We ran into the clearing, out of breath, and panting.

"Envy!”, Aoibhe yelled at me-

“Where the h* have you been?”

"Nice to see you too”, Candy Pop grumbled.

"We were just.....”, I doubled over to catch my breath “.....we ran into someone”.

"MrBeast?" Trigorien asked-

I guessed they were a fan.

"Wha....no, it's a long story---wait.....where's Alice? Where's Ivy?!?"

I did...and ** _didn’t_** know...anymore........

-They all looked at each other.

"Should......should we tell him?" Andrea B. gulped.

"Tell me what?!?"

"It's fine, it's fine”, Hyacinthe tried to reassure me.

"Actually, it's not fine”, Ines corrected, “But go off, I guess”.

"We....actually don't really know”, sighed Taylor, “But apparently, Alpha---”

“-Delta. My name is Delta”.

“Whatever”.

_Rude._

“Anyway, she apparently saw Gabbie fall into a tree”.

_Okay that one, I already heard-_

-Two of the stragglers burst in.

“Oh God”, Erica groaned, “Not more characters”.

"Seriously, what are you on?"

_Not the time, Dooper-_ I wanted to say.

"Where the......where the f* is this?" one of them panted-

"Who the f* are you?” Nikita responded.

"And how did you find us?"

Well.

Candy Pop and I exchanged glances-

_We_ had the answer to that-

"Um.....yeah, about that....”, I hesitantly ventured, “We _may_ have found a few new people”.

-Speaking of which, that last two crashed in on a flurry of black and green.

"Great”, she said, “You just _had_ to give away our cover”.

"Hey, chill out, Lyds”, he rebutted, “It's not my fault these two breathers blew our cover first”.

"What is it with all of these new faces showing up out of the blue?" Penelope remarked, irritated.

"More cannon fodder?" said Parris-

"Way to be optimistic”, Montana cracked.

"Oh, I'm sorry, but we barely get a chance to speak and you know that too d* well!"

"Yeah, but I don't b* about it 24/7!"

"Oh my God!" Orpheus moaned, "Will someone just shoot me in the head already?! You two are so f*g annoying!"

_Lovely people aren’t they?_

I hoped they hadn’t been scared off _too_ badly-

"All three of you need to can it!”

_Thank you,_ Audley!!

"Right now, we need to make sure that these guys aren't spies for the Cursed God”.

"The what?"

Identical confused looks-

"Shouldn't we get their names first?" 

Yana did have the right idea.

"Bernhard”.

"Desiderio”.

"Lydia Deetz”.

"-I'm legally not allowed to say my name”.

“His name is Beetlejuice”.

"Isn't he....a demon?" Montana worried-

"Technically he's a ghost”, Delta clarified.

"Doesn't really make things any better”, Aoibhe sighed.

"Who are you working for?"

Audley circled back around to the _real_ question-

"I mean.......we're not employed anywhere if that's what you wanna know”.

Desiderio shrugged.

"Do you know who the Cursed God is?" Cedar made certain-

They shook their heads.

"What the h* is going on here?"

_Who knows, Lydia, who knows._

"We're trying to open this tree”, Teala answered.

"It might not be as crazy as it sounds, honestly”.

“’Might’, being the keyword”.

Bernhard scoffed.

"Then let's get to work and find out”.

Joey headed to the bark, first.

Then _everyone_ did.

“Fun crowd, huh?” C.P. whispered.

Everyone except for us-

“Oh yeah”.

I frowned.

“I don’t think Lydia and BJ are authors”.

“That nickname could go _two_ wa-“

He went innocent right quick when I _glared._

“I don’t think those four made it a habit to camp out here, anyhow”, I added.

“Beats me”.

He put both arms behind his head, relaxing.

“They’re with us, now”.

“...”

I was _sorely_ tempted to respond with:

_They’re going to wish they **weren’t.**_

****

-There was a sudden commotion from the hillside-!??

“What the-“

“Uh-oh”.

We rushed to the drop-off to find Delta with a sickeningly-twisted (broken!?) ankle at the bottom of it.

_How-!??_

“Help me get her up”, Lilith commanded.

And yes, _commanded_ was the right word to use.

Her eyes went from ‘this is the man who causes trouble’, (me), to ‘ugh, not _you-_ ‘ (C.P.), to ‘.....’ (Lilith).

The two of us (and then Teala, and then Joey, and then-), balanced her, but she wanted to move on her own-

Steel-trap arms.

“What do you think of that?” Candy Pop asked me.

“....Just bad luck?”

“Mm...maybe”.

We watched them all struggle out of sight.

“.....It’s taking Michael some time”.

“Ehhh....”

The Demon raised his shoulders, then dropped them.

“They may’ve waited ‘til the newcomers were introduced”.

“Why would they do that!?”

“Because that’s what _I_ would’ve done-“

“Of course”.

-Then I blinked.

“Wait, really!?”

“-If I were incessantly unbothered like him, and _I didn’t know these people”._

“. . .”

“Geez, let me finish!”

I flushed again...

_-Screams._

“What the-!??”

“How many times have you said that in the past twenty minutes-“

_“We need to get back up there **now!!!”**_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We just lost more people-


	41. Outside The Mind, A Third Perspective: Let's Go And Play With Fire (Like We Haven't Done Enough Of That Already...)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Those two guys make plans again-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cw: Brief nyctophobia. Falling. Language. Kidnapping-

Candy Pop

_Speak for yourself, Speed Racer!!_

-We scrambled as fast as we could to find-

“....This group is too big, who the heck is gone?” I whispered in his ear.

“...?”

He gave me a weird look.

“-You really can’t tell!?”

“No-“

He sighed:

“Lydia, Safiya, MatPat, Aoibhe, Liza, Bailey, and Tana”.

“Wha-not the bear!!”

“Why are you so surprised?”

He shrugged.

“Half that group is in Mystic’s inner circle along with the people we lost the first time”.

“So...?”

“So obviously, the tree’s biased about who they take, so whoever took her, must be too”.

He shook his head.

“No...we’re not getting in that way”.

“Then...how-“

“I’m glad you asked”.

He motioned for me to follow him-

“The heck are you planning?”

“You’ll see”.

He slipped around the rear of the tree.

“Look, if we want to find where they are, we have to go under, not through”.

“Oh-Ohhh-“

“Yeah”.

He crushed vines from the ground with a single squeeze of his fist.

And he didn’t stop until we had our _own_ hole to Wonderland.

“Holy crap!”

“...I don’t think there is such a thing”.

He looked down into the shadowy tunnel.

“Are we gonna tell the others about this?”

I looked over my shoulder-

“....I don’t know”.

“What do you mean ‘you don’t know’-“

“Well-“

Envy paused.

“You saw how that Tracker business went down-“

“I-that was a stupid-long time ago-“

“Not _that_ long”.

_I don’t even think I_ was _there-_

_...Or was I?_

“For all I know, I’ll get the same reaction with this”.

“Then, uh...”

I prepared to be called a Hypocrite.

“Why’re you doing it?”

“Because after what Alice told us...”

His green eyes flashed.

“We just...we can’t leave them there!”

For a moment, I thought I saw something underneath.

“We can’t leave them _in_ that place-“

“Okay...”

“It might even take hours for the tree to absorb everyone else”.

“-Wait, legit?”

“We haven’t even lost a third of our numbers, yet”.

“-D*”.

“I know”.

He swung a boot into the space.

He’d started to shake a bit. . .probably due to how _dark_ it was in there.

He stepped back.

“Oh h*”.

I rolled my eyes.

“I’ll go first-“

_Yeet._

_Liddell eat your heart out-!!_

“Candy Pop-“

But that soon whooshed into the ether.

_So much for the white rabiiiiiit-_

-This wasn’t nearly as fun as I’d wanted it to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alice kind-of down the rabbit hole.


	42. Inside The Mind/Outside The AU: A Matter Of Death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How is all this affecting the Inner World?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cw: Discussing who should be dead.

Two more portraits shoved into view-

‘Desiderio'.

‘Bernhard’.

…

Two more again.

‘Lydia Deetz’.

‘Beetlejuice’.

_Another fandom appears?_ Alex wondered.

_How did they get here?_

Rene shrugged at his unspoken question.

_I don’t think Sal or Vero are going to be happy to hear about this when they come back._

_..._

_You know, I_ really _hope they come back._

_And don't get mistaken for-_

——

“You’re both supposed to be dead?”

Now that, I didn’t know.

“Heh”.

Vero shrugged.

“Bit late to do anything about it now”.

“. . . . As long as neither of you are abandoned”.

“Eh!?”

_Interesting. . ._

I watch as the Shadow Beast unceremoniously panics.

“What do you mean ‘abandoned’-“

Sal stands firm, but I can tell even he’s been a bit…unnerved.

“Your Creators are the only ones keeping you alive right now”.

Frank tone.

I see, I see…

Death’s black holes for eyes are impossible to get a reading on.

**Very** unlike the Death from Fiction.

“…So what are you here for?”

-They’re genre savvy.

How dangerous.

“-We’re looking for the Inverse of the Ninth Spirit’s crystal”.

They blink.

“You want that?”

“Do we look like liars to you?” Vero says in return.

_Not at this moment, I would reckon-_

“-The Demon book isn’t going to open for free”.

“….Well we didn’t think it would be easy”.

Sal doesn’t back down.

“What do we have to do?”

Death gives us a grave glance.

“It’s not what you have to do”.

They open their hand:

A black flame reveals a jagged, blood-stained jewel.

“It’s how well your mind can stand the pain”.

Sal frowns, but takes it anyway-

It glows.

The light is the most **unholy** sight I have ever seen-

“-!!!”

He tenses.

His eyelids scrunch closed for an instant-

“Sally Face?”

I grip my wand-

-!??

Oh dear-!!

The sclera has become pitch-black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Monday! My brain is in space somewhere, fair warning. Also, the next Bird Chapter will be coming eventually.


	43. Outside The Mind: Suspicion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I am having, many, many problems with this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cw: Trust issues, ulterior motives, jealousy. Language.

This Is:

"Alice, any chance you could switch places with Ivy please? And Gabbie, would you be cool with swapping with Andrea?"

I shrugged. . .

_Wouldn't be my first time being asked to do this._

"Sure".

"Why the h* not?"

I moved out of the way so Ivy could stand by her side...

-The couch moved.

_-Huh?_

The throne backed up and became a part of it.

"Hey could you two switch with them again please?"

So we did. . .

Now they were sitting even closer to her.

"Holy f*, we can cuddle here".

"They still never gave me my joint", Andrea R. huffed.

"I've thought a little bit about smoking weed", Mystic admitted, "But honestly, with the way my brain works, I don't really know if I need to get high to have high thoughts".

_I wouldn't even know what meets the criteria._

-She dug out more remotes from _somewhere,_ and unlocked a coffee table, a mini-fridge, fan, etc., etc. we now had a lounge.

"Holy s*", Gabbie exclaimed.

"Bro, I don't know what the f* is going on", Andrea R. said, "But this....is lit. Can you become a goddess, like, everyday please?"

I laughed a little, along with everyone else.

"That's a whole-a* mood", Gabbie cracked.

Mystic smiled.

"No kidding. To be honest, I'm starting to think that maybe I'm finally getting some good karma for all of the s* I've been put through".

...

Some time passed...

The quietness of surveying this golden place from afar left me with my thoughts.

A dangerous pastime for me.

_When will the others get here?_

_What if Emmy comes back?_

_What are we going to do-_

I didn't particularly _want_ to stay here forever. . .

"Mystic? I.....I have a bad feeling about this".

"What do you mean, silly?"

She turned to me, still slightly chuckling...

"I mean, it's not like I'm not happy for you....I am. But....doesn't this just seem....too good to be true?"

_My mom always said..._

She thought about it.

"So what?"

A scoff?

I-

"Maybe finally I'll feel happy".

"This isn't how you get happiness, though."

"-Are you trying to tell me how I'm suppose to get my happiness?" 

Her tone had become sharper-

"No!"

_Nonono-_

"I'm just saying.....what if there's more to this than meets the eye?"

Something about this whole business just... _sat_ wrong.

_Why would respectable people do what_ these _people were doing?_

_What if we wanted a future elsewhere?_

She rolled her own eyes:

"Oh come on! The one time I actually feel important, someone has to butt in and tell me it's wrong?"

_Ow..._

_Ow, ow, ow-_

"I'm not trying---"

I don't...I don't _do_ this often-

"Oh please! It's clear that you're just jealous".

_-What?_

"I'm not! Mystic, I'm saying this as your friend: there seems to be something more, maybe even something.....sinister. I mean, why would they give you all of this nice stuff?"

_Isn't that what CG keeps trying to do?_

_Over and over and over again-_

"Because I'm going to heal them, that's why".

_-Okay, but..._

"But you don't even know their terms for being healed. For all we know, that could involve something that ends with you.....I don't know.....dying or something".

"They said they wouldn't kill me".

"People can say things".

"And a lot of people mean what they say!"

"We've only known _these_ people for, like, half an hour".

I felt like Elsa from _Frozen-_

I just hoped it wouldn't end the same way...

"Okay, both of you calm the f* down".

_But I wasn't yelling-_

"Maybe this is a good thing, maybe not. But for now, I just wanna enjoy this. If something bad happens, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it", Gabbie finished.

_But I don't want to enjoy anything._

_I want a Truth over all the lies._

_I've seen enough already-_

I guess the North Pole had damaged me more than I'd thought.

"We can't do that if Mystic's dead!"

"Lilith said there was a way to bring our friends back from the dead. I'm sure that we can bring her back too".

"Lilith's only _just_ defected to our side, though. How are we supposed to be able to trust her?"

Or maybe it was the Plant Man and the Demon's reservations finally winding their way into my brain.

"I'm kinda with Alice on this", Ro defended, "We don't really know if Lilith's reliable. For all we know, she could still be working for the Cursed God as a spy".

"Well, right now, she's our best chance of getting our friends back".

A sigh from Mystic. . . .

"But just in case Alice is somehow right and there _is_ something wrong with all of this, could we at least enjoy this while we still can please?"

.....I felt.......conflicted, now-

Good times were hard to come by since...

Probably that island.

_-Something niggled at the back of my brain, but I didn't remember anything..._

But if we _weren't_ safe after all...

"Just give this a chance....please?"

_Mm..._

-I caved.

"Fine. But I'm gonna see if there's anything up with this".

"-Not if I beat you to it".

-The Complete 180 took me off-guard...for some reason...

"I thought you wanted to enjoy it".

"I do, but it seems weird".

_Weird?_

"What exactly is weird about it?"

_Not you too, Ro-_

"Just.....this entire thing. But like I said, maybe I _am_ actually some sort of a goddess or savior or something and I'm destined to relieve their pain.

Maybe for once I can be useful instead of just running away whenever even the most minor inconvenience happens".

. . . . .. . . . Silence filled the space-

"So....you think were gonna get more of these saint people or whatever?" Andrea R. broke through.

_That's_ kinda _what Emmy hinted-_

"Who the f* knows? I just hope the others are handling themselves alright".

"Last time I checked, they were heading off to some random part of the woods with Lilith, something about trying to find a well of resurrection or or some s*".

_-Wait, **what-**_

How had I missed that!??

_Because you barely spent time with them after the Summer Camp incident, that's why,_ my brain reminded me.

"Well of what?!?!"

"Resurrection".

**Oh.**

"Holy f*. We could actually get our friends back!"

_All of them?_

Even. . . .

_Sponge......_

My promise wouldn't be in vain.

_Would it?_

"Okay but 'ow are we gonna get there?" Ivy asked.

"Simple. We just ask Emmy and those Robed F*s if we can go".

-Andrea R. did a double-take with her eyelids.

"What?"

"I don't know if it's gonna be that simple-They seem like they need you here".

She scoffed again-

"C'mon, I'm their savior. They can't say no. We'd just ask, leave, bring a friend or two back, and then get back here".

_And the Tokens? What of them-_

But I didn't say it out loud...

"I mean, what could possibly go wrong?"

_-You don't want to be saying that here._

Too late.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have an ominous feeling now...


	44. Outside The AU: The Book

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meanwhile, someone may have potentially gone off the deep end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cw: Implied possession, brief noose, blood.

Black sclera?

_An automatic bad sign._

“…Sal?”

Vero ventured-

“Are you still in there?”

. . . He turned….

_-Well this could go one of two ways …_

His expression read zero recognition.

At **all.**

“Sal?”

“-I don’t think he knows you”, I whisper-

“Yeah, I got that!” he snaps-

“No, I am certain that you do **not”.**

He bares his teeth-

“Ahem-Dear?”

I daintily unfold my wings and flutter into the air. . .

“. . . . .”

Those black-rimmed eyes settle on me…

Blue irises…

One has faded to a dangerous reddish-pink.

“Can you Kindly speak to us?”

He takes a step closer.

“If you would so please…”

I flash my most dazzlingly-sugary smile~

(-I hear thinly-veiled retching from behind me, but I choose to ignore it).

“….You………”

“Yes?”

-I gesture with my hands and wand to signal: ‘Give me more….’

“……………….”

He presses a hand agonizingly against his face-

The veins pop out.

Even the Shadow Beast must wince.

Black blood streaks from the underneath of his fingernails.

His shadow stretches beneath his feet in every direction possible. . .

It creeps up his body like a disease-!!

“Oh”.

“Oh!?”

I am glared at.

“That’s all you have to say about it!??”

“…Well it’ll do us no good if we panic-“

Oop.

I lift him up underneath the armpits (ugh), and float.

“Wh-!? HEY-“

“Oh I’m sorry. I didn’t know you wanted to be flooded”.

“I can _fly-“_

The black ocean spreads…then recedes.

“-Well, I am not perfect, of course…”

“You decide _now_ is a good time to not be perfect-!??”

“Don’t look at me like that”.

-I can faintly see a shape forming from the twisting current.

“Is it supposed to happen like this?”

Death watches on a high rock.

“…It could always get worse”.

_What a cheery thought._

“-How do we get him out of that!?” Vero shouts-

“You’ll either have to really kill him, or calm him down somehow”.

Toneless.

“Good luck, either way . . . “

A man with a black, ragged habit appears from the Eye of the Storm.

Blood-red shimmers drip off every limb. . . . . .

The veil’s been knotted around his neck.

He extends his hand, and unholy light crackles.

A book…

“-That’s it!”

Vero’s eyes lock-on-

“Wait just a second-“

It cracks open.

Darkness seething within-

_Remember the question. . ._

I silently urge him-

_Don’t do anything you’ll regret…_

The pages flip.

And flip…

“What’s taking so long!?” Vero complains.

“Well it can’t be a picnic, handling _that_ much destructive power-“

“You do it every day!!”

“-It is _nothing_ like this”.

The last page. . .flips peacefully to a stop.

“-Oh?”

“Come on, man….”

_-I daresay, now is the moment that could make or break us._


	45. Outside The Mind: Amateur Break-In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> These two are at it again-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cw: Heights, fear of falling, the dark. One-word responses that leave you hanging. And language.

Candy Pop

I slid through the tunnel until I smacked into the floor.

_Yes! I made it-OOOOWWWW my BACK-!!!_

I gingerly sat up. . .

“I made it-down here…” I groan…..

“….You okay?”

Envy’s voice sounded like it was coming from deep underwater.

Only the water was above me, and this did NOT look like a mermaid’s palace.

At all.

“I’m great”.

_-I think I ruptured something, but I’m fine-_

“You should come join me, there’s a ton of avian statues on display”.

“What-“

“We’re right where we want to be”.

Envy

I didn’t want to do it.

It was too dark down there. . .

“... Oh…okay…..”

But…

“I’m. . .coming. . . .er, hang on-“

I stepped into space-

_Nnnno, wait-_

I sat down on the edge.

And then I **gulped.**

_I’m doing this for Alice. . . !_

I pushed myself off-

_I-_

**_Ihateit-!!_ **

The falling made it worse!!

I couldn’t breathe very well and I couldn’t see and-

Ooookay, don’t panic don’t panic don’t panic

THUD.

_…Did I make it in one piece?_

“I can’t believe you landed on your feet!”

“………………..Huh?”

I shakily looked down-

There was a giant crack under my toes.

“……………………..”

I looked back to him.

“-What?”

“-Nothing”.

“Don’t say that-“

I stepped out of the impact mark.

“Um…well, we’re here-“

“Yup”.

Candy Pop peeked around the corner.

“Ready to commence Surveillance-“

“Or whatever…”

I peeked too.

Candy Pop

So far, so good …

Nobody coming, or going.

“Coast clear”.

“. . . . .”

-I was aware of the solid silence over my shoulder.

“-You good?”

“. . . .I’m good-“

“Good”.

I stepped out from around the blind spot, and started into….whatever the h* was next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Thursday!


	46. Outside The AU: Inverse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some crystals are not as harmless as they seem.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cw: Choking, scarring, anxiety. Blood mention. References to death, being dead. Being frozen. Psychological battle.

It was terrifying, at first…

All that power rushing through me.

I can’t say it felt good, either.

-But then it changed.

It grew colder.

Like…

Like you were watching a nightmare and you couldn’t wake up, only it was you and you were really living it.

I wasn’t going numb, by any means.

I was just realizing something I already knew:

I’d thought we hadn’t yet hit the Worst Case scenario.

I was wrong.

What we were doing now-what _I_ was doing now.

_Was_ the Worst-Case scenario.

There was no alternative-we’d been doing that and nothing else from the moment things got bad to the moment I was watching my reflection turn deader and scarier.

…..You can’t breathe and shiver at the same time.

I realized that too.

I’m freezing.

I know my neck will have marks.

To be honest. . .

I don’t even care.

My heart could beat out my chest, and that’d be just fine-

It’d be a minor stab of pain, nothing compared to the double-vision versus vertigo..

It’s searching for hate, something to make me go mental with.

I don’t want to let it knock me-out of my-head—

I know-I’ve seen-I don’t-

Book.

Open-open the book-

-Instinctively, I summon it.

I don’t even need to think-

It just-happens.

There are words on my tongue, but I-

I want to-

Be sure-of what I’m about to say.

Before I say it.

‘. . . . . . . . . .’

-What was I trying to do again?

Seems like-

I had _some_ reason-

I struggle-to-remember-!!

Blue eyes float within the pages.

I don’t _dare_ shut mine.

-What was I trying to _think,_ darn it!!

My fingertips are searching for nothing-

Nothing,

Nothing-!!

. . . ... ..!

Huh…

..S. . .

What kind of a whisper-

. . . . . . ..... S.... .. al...

Who’s there-

“Sal!!”

-What-!?

-A fluttering-haze….

“Hey! Can you hear me!?”

-And something black drooping-beneath it.

I tense up-

“Don’t tell me you forgot-!!”

Forgot…

“We need the Blue Fairy!!!”

_-That_ was who….!

It briefly illuminates my mind.

It’ll slip away.

“Ask it where she is-“

-I fight-with myself.

The urge to **crush** him rather than listen-

_May as well destroy it all anyway if it’s only the Worst…._

But…

My arm aches.

. . . . My whole body does.

I grit my teeth hard enough to taste blood.

The effort to stay still is more difficult than the effort to move....

“C’mon!!! We can’t get stuck here forever-“

……I can’t get swallowed alive.

“Where….”

My voice sounds strained.

Like I’m teetering on the brink of something awful-

“Where….is she-“

Wait-

**Blacklight.**

“The Blue Fairy-“

I can only-hope-

Images _sear_ into my brain.

“-!!!”

Vivid-

——

With a sparking flash, the shadows splatter away.

He’s back in his usual clothes-

I set Vero down-

-I just _barely_ catch the poor dear into my shoulder before he faints dead away.

(Not really dead, mind you-)

. . . The crystal slips from his grip, and shatters in the dirt.

“…Ugh……”

-I hear trudging coming up behind me.

“I can’t believe I had to play the good guy there for a second!!”

“You’ll live”.

I turn to Death.

“Thank you very much, but don’t be offended if we never come back”.

…..They just nod.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They finally did it, but at what cost?


	47. Inside The Mind: Call-Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The adventuring party returns, but they're not the only ones about to reappear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cw: Sleep? Slight body horror. I'm not sure what else.

“-What happened!?”

Alex’s pulse ratcheted upwards to 180-

“Oh no-“

Rene’s mouth fell open.

“Relax children, he’s fine”.

The Sugarplum Fairy tucked her shawl under the blue-haired man’s head, and then flittered to standing.

“-He’s not gonna wake up for a while though”.

Vero sighed…

“And just when we finally got our answer, too….”

“Oh hush. It could’ve been you-“  
“I-!” he spluttered-

“So…what now?”

Although he was relieved…

“Do we just…wait?”

“I believe so”.

She folded back her wings.

“……Okay”.

-By now, he’d seen and heard stranger.

-

She’d already known something must’ve happened to Makoto.

He hadn’t been with the group.

But she’d shoved her worry aside for the moment, and focused on holding down the fort-

One thing at a time.

One crisis.

What helped, was that he happened to possess an unusual kind of Luck.

And if she said _this:_

“…By the way. Anyone know-“

There would be a flash of brilliant, white light.

“Kyoko!! I am so, _so_ glad to see you-“

Vero snorted.

“-A-And everyone else!!”

He smiled in relief.

“……I hope I didn’t make you all worry-“

“-I would’ve been more worried if you hadn’t shown up”, was the deadpan reply.

“Where’ve you been?”

“-Well…”

He sheepishly looked the Shadow Beast in the eye.

“First, I ended up in Death’s domain…but I took a crystal and came back to life”.

“Sounds familiar”, she said.

Alex shifted his weight from foot to foot awkwardly-

“….Then I apparently crash-landed into this city…..and I nearly got killed by these flying people, only to hide out there for a while……”

“And what happened next”.

\- Kirigiri once more.

Always calm. . .

_-Oh crap, I called her by her first name-_

-He’d been overjoyed to see her, and he’d _completely_ blanked—

_Crap, crap, crap-!!_

Five pairs of eyes on him.

Waiting for more...

“U-uh, so I…..made some friends, and found my way to Fairyland, too late-“

“Sounds on-brand”, Vero remarked.

“Well-“

He fumbled to conclude the rest of his story.

“Then…it stormed really hard.

For like, an even longer time….but because of that, it made a rainbow, that I used to guide me through a void-place and eventually get back here”.

“-Okay, that’s just improbable”.

“That’s…how my luck works…….”

Grin.

_It looks weird, doesn’t it?_

“-We wouldn’t want it any other way”.

-She smiled a tiny smile!

_Phew…_

“What matters, is that you’re here now”.

“-And you have five months before I collect on your bargain”, the Sugarplum Fairy replied.

“-Bargain?”

“-Can’t we just explain it later?”

Vero leaned on the wall-

“I…am exhausted”.

“….Alright…………”

“….You two are getting along-“

He looked from one to the other, completely baffled.

“Long story”.

The man in the black hoodie sighed.

“Talk later”.

“Okay………”

He tugged on his robe.

“-Wait”.

“Huh?”

One eye was open.

“….Did you say something about a crystal?”

“Death gave me one-“

“Do you still have it?”

“Uhhh….”

He distinctly remembered it being absorbed into his chest....?

“I do…..”

“Where?”

“…..Inside me”.

The Sugarplum Fairy and Vero looked at him like he'd just announced that he was planning to go back to the North Pole.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love you all, and I will always love you all.


	48. Inside The Mind/Outside The Mind: The Returned

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a shocking development, a snap decision is made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cw: Being replaced, language, broken bones, corruption discussion. Slight mention of dental work.

“-What’s wrong?”

“The last time we saw one of those, it turned Sal into a-“

“The point being, how are you okay right now?”

The Sugarplum Fairy eyed him up and down-

“….Define ‘okay’-“

Makoto’s smile was a confused one.

“What we had to do to get the book nearly tainted him”.

A nod to the unconscious man-

“Some kind of corruption powerful enough to change his form….it could have destroyed his mind”.

“Unless it already did...” Vero muttered-

“Oh no! I hope he’ll be okay…”

He spared Sal a glance.

_He looks peaceful right now…_

But he knew from experience how easily good condition could change.

“Same here”, Alex said.

“-What’s that!??”

-They all turned…

Rene was pointing as two portraits faded into nothing.

Makoto felt chills run down his spine…

_Just because I…!_

Penelope and Lilith…were gone.

-But not for long. . .

Two other portraits grew in their place:

‘Genevieve’, a blonde woman…

And ‘Cecelia’.

A woman in red.

“Why’d _that_ happen!?”

Vero forgot about trying to relax-

“I don’t know, but it can’t be good”, Kyoko summed up, “Those two were like Cornerstornes”.

“New Cornerstones?” Alex guessed-

“Somebody has to figure out who they think they are”, the Shadow Beast declared angrily-

“Leave it to me”.

The Sugarplum Fairy wafted her wand. . .

-In a swirling of glittering sparkles, Jaiden was back…and so was her portrait.

-But not before Alex’s had come into full HD.

And then Rene’s-

“-Why am I back here?”

“Damage Control”.

She waved her wand again, and the three of them dissolved into pink glitter.

*******

"Hello?!? Anyone?"

I could hear voices-

Alex

The three of us followed them-

And broke through a low tree cover.

_Sorry-_

"Alex!”

_Lauren!_

"You're alive! How did you-?"

"I had a little help from some people”.

…..I wasn’t sure it’d be wise to go deeper into details…….

(I also wasn’t sure the Fairy was going to get out of being strangled for this, either).

"H-how?” Delta stammered…"You were zombified!"

She’d noticed my friends, too-

"We had a little help as well”, Rene answered.

_-Not **you-!!?**_

"Get away from her!" I charged-

"Alex!"

I tried to shrug out of her arm band!!

"Alex, it's okay! Cecelia's on our side now!"

"But Delta--! She's hurt. She must've hurt her!”

“Uh....that...was actually my bad”, Delta said herself.

. . .

Oh.

-I was then nearly knocked over by a grateful hug from Joey-

"Oh my God! I thought you were a goner!”

"Joey, I'm fine”.

I looked at the injured lady, though…

"She doesn't look so good”.

He knelt-

"Oh my God! Was it that bad?"

She looked like she’d rather have a root canal than say:

"I, uh, I kinda broke my ankle”.

"When?"

"She refused to let me help her”, Cecelia chimed in, ignoring the look she was getting-

"Does anyone have any sort of medical training?"

"I have first-aid training….”

"Okay, but how the h* are you gonna give first aid to yourself?"

"It's really not that difficult”.

I could see their back-and-forth was gonna go on a while.

"Okay, but....what even is this place?"

"That's what I wanna know”, Lauren agreed, “And why we didn't know about it before”.

"I personally want to know about this Well of Resurrection that Miss Fire Hair mentioned earlier”, DeStorm interjected-

"If we can find it, we could bring back some useful people”.

-The phrase left a bad taste in my mouth, but…

"I'm with DeStorm”, Taylor added, “It'll be our best chance of survival--"

"But not our best chance of being in the story", Orpheus snorted.

"Did...did Lyra give you those drugs?" Dooper gasped-

_The drugs again, huh?_

......Sigh.

"Okay, look. I think a few of us need to figure out how this tree works", Joey addressed-

"And the others need to find this.....Well of Resurrection".

"-Can this well also transfer people back into their own bodies?"

I saw a certain kid in an elf outfit peering around said tree.

"Is that all you think about?" Tristen lambasted-

"Oh, I'm sorry! You think I _like_ being stuck in this body!?"

_It **will** have been nearly two years now-_

"No, but still-!"

"-Will you both calm down?!"

Ines glared at them irritably.

"I know this is the stupidest idea, but I think we need to split up. Half of us will stay here to figure out how the tree works, and the other half will go with Cecelia to this Well of Resurrection.

We'd be killing two birds with one stone".

"-Is there anyone else who can sing?"

Teala looked like she'd had a _eureka!_ moment.

"Is there anyone else who can sing?"

Justine, Alison, Pene-I mean, Genevieve, and GloZell all raised hands.

"I think you four should stay here. Call it a hunch, but I believe that this tree may have some connection to people being able to sing".

"Wow!" Nikita sneered, "You actually said something useful for once!"

"-Hey, leave her alone!"

An eyeroll-

"Oh look. Mr. Daredevil's stepping up for his girlfriend".

_-Does she **ever** say anything nice? Ever?_

"What? My girlfriend? Teala? No!" 

"Roi? My boyfriend? Yeah right".

-They were both sweating humongous amounts of bullets.

"Okay, let's get back on topic", Joey saved, "Half of us will go to find the well, the other half will stay".

(They let out identical breaths of relief as soon as they realized the attention was off of _them._ For now...)

"I suppose I'm needed at the well", Cecelia ventured in regret, "But I simply can't leave this sweetheart alone--"

"Calliope and I can stay back and watch her", Alison bluntly stated.

"-Oh, uh, very well then".

_...I guess she wasn't expecting that._

"I'll go find the well".

"Me too!"

Roi and Teala again. . .

Nikita hid her laugh, unsuccessfully......

More people spoke up, but I noticed that C.P. had vanished out of sight again.

_....Come to think of it, where's the Plant Boy?_

You'd think it'd be pretty hard to lose a _7ft. 5 tall_ _being...._

I had half a mind to go over there.

*

"Wait".

The Well Group paused-

"I have a feeling you'll need these".

_The Soul Jars!_

Ines took them, they _were_ pretty small...

"Yana and I will keep them safe", she assured.

"What's in there?" Bernhard asked.

"Souls of our friends who've died".

"That should've been obvious", Orpheus snarked.

"Okay, are we gonna go or are we gonna go?" Bretman snapped impatiently, "This b* wants to bring back some b*s."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Saturday!!


	49. Inside The Mind/Outside The Mind: More Complications

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Well Expedition begins...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cw: Shipping pressure, language. Minor mentions of death, betrayal, and phys. violence.

-Vero slammed her into the wall.

“What’s your game!? You tell us how to save them, and then you throw them **right** back into Danger-“

“Will you calm down!? I wouldn’t have done it if I thought it wasn’t a good idea!”

“Right. Because you _always_ have the right idea-“

“We need SOMEONE to keep an eye on those two!!”

-He wiped the candy-coated flecks from his face.

“Because we don’t know what happened, we need someone who can report back to us if they start acting sus!!!”

-She violently shoved him off.

He hit the ground hard-

“And how are they supposed to do _that!??”_

He glowered-

“There’s no guarantee we can reach them through their portraits now-“

“No...but I could probably do something-"

They looked at Makoto.

He took a _deep_ breath.

“Until Sal wakes up. . .I could probably figure out how to rig one of the Mirrors so we can safely talk to them”.

“-I think I know just the one”.

The Sugarplum Fairy smiled-

“You know it too, don’t you?”

****

“Ah!”

My head…my head-

Envy

“-What do you see?”

We’d been walking along an empty corridor for quite a while…

“This hatch-“

C.P. lifted it easy-?

We exited into a forest area-

“F*ing _F*-“_

“What? What is it-“

-And that was when I nearly cracked my skull open.

"Ow...ow....ow....."

"-What are you two doing?"

_Oh, great._

Nikita, and Manny.

"Nothing much", C.P. huffed.

His face was red with frustration.

"What are _you_ up to?"

"We have a Well to catch".

The latter grinned.

"Come on".

-

"Oh my God!" he squealed as we re-joined the group...or half of it, at least.

"We saw it".

_Saw what?_

"I knew it".

Nikita looked way too satisfied for her own good.

"You two _are_ lovebirds after all".

"What?!"

Teala gasped-

"No!"

"You can give up the façade, kid", Candy Pop sighed, "These three saw it happen".

-She flash-stepped away from Roi like he'd suddenly contracted the flu.

They were sweating so much, they'd created their own rain.

"Bitches, you don't gotta hide it from us", Bretman said, "We been knew".

"I'm serious-Roi and I are just friends".

"Yeah, sure", Nikita scoffed, "Really good and close friends".

"Don't get it twisted!" Poor Teala tried to insist-

"Oh c'mon", Manny chuckled, "I think it's cute".

"-Um, I don't mean to interrupt, but can we please move along? I'd really like to bring as much of our group back to life as possible".

This was getting to be _too_ intense for my liking.

"Soon as Teala admits her crush on Roi".

_You son of a-!!_

Oh God, I actually thought it.

"She doesn't have to if she doesn't want--"

"Hey. Chill".

"But--"

"I said, chill".

"......."

**_Don't tell me to chill._ **

....But the unlucky two had already plowed on ahead without us, so...

I had to let it slide for now.

-

"Ah!

_Low-_

_Hanging-!!_

My poor head-

I sat up...

_Again..._

_Why again........_

"Mr. Plantman?"

Uh...

Nina.

I think-

"I'm fine".

Yana, too.

"I'm fine".

"That's....that's good to hear".

_"Oh h* no!"_

_What-_

_What-!?_

Nikita sped up here like the Demons from-

"Back off, b*! He's taken."

"....."

_Huh?_

"She just wanted to know if I was okay. I don't get--"

"Look under the subtext. You're as clueless as Roi and Teala are trying to be. She's in love with you".

_She's **what-**_

"No, I'm not! You're twisting what I say-"

"Hey!", yelled Montana, "Get your a*s up here! You're lagging behind".

"-Hello?" Yana suddenly gulped.

"Who's there?"

She was nervously eyeing the bushes-

Montana blazed over, and swept them aside!

"Hey! Don't you dare run!"

-Everyone else crowded over...

It was a man with light-brown hair and a green tracksuit.

"Uhh...I can explain".

Weirdly enough, he looked like a paper doll-

"B*, you better", Bretman warned him-

Then Cecelia arrived.

"What on earth?" 

-He registered her presence.

"Get away from her!"

His pointing finger trembled-

"She's dangerous".

"No, she's on our side!" Teala corrected.

His eyes narrowed.

"Yeah, I don't think so, not according to the Future Foundation".

C.P. tensed beside me...I felt my cheeks drain of chlorophyll.

"Oh God..."

_I knew we couldn't trust her-_

"Why?"

"The what?" Ines asked-

He stood up.

"The Future Foundation. I work for them".

He gasped a second time.

"Wait. Where's Vero? Nightcrawler? Sal?!"

C.P. seemed to jolt in recognition-

"Alright", DeStorm began coldly, "You have 30 seconds to explain what's going on".

"Well, you see, I'm on a lot of missions, but I just got word that Junko Enoshima is planning to come here to take one of you for the Izuru Kamukura Project 2.0".

Cecelia gulped-

"Her?"

"-Don't act like you don't know! You two worked together".

"That was ages ago".

-Something seemed to click.

"Wait a second! Cecelia Annesley.....you should be imprisoned! Why are you out here?"

"Why do you think? I had outside help".

"I suppose this 'outside help' killed your twin sister?"

What.

"Oh, so you care about her, but not I?" she guilted with a sigh-

"She's not a sadistic serial hypnotist like you!"

Eyeroll-

"If you _must_ know, she's not dead. She is very much alive. _I'm......_ what was it you called me? The estranged criminal twin? If anyone was going to die in the Tragedy, it would've been me.

She betrayed me, after all".

"Wait, wait, hang on", Roi cut in, "I think before we go any further, we're gonna need a name".

_Don't do it...._

I internally pleaded-

"My name....is Makoto Naegi".

-All of a sudden, the image flickered.

_Wait..._

I felt my blood run cold.

_He's just a projection!!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More twists ensue my goodness-


	50. Outside The Mind: The Most Complications

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The bodies start to drop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cw: Gun violence and death, electric torture, and kidnapping. And language. Giving up on people.

Delta was trying to walk up the hill on her own...

Alex

Myself, Lauren, Calliope, Joey, and Alison hurried to stop her.

"Girl, you shouldn't be fighting against us", he chastised-

"You're outnumbered".

"They're in trouble!"

"And _your_ ankle's broken!" Lauren countered, "I thought you said that you knew first aid".

"I do, but I need to help my friends!"

"Delta, please stop struggling-" Calliope said in vain-

"I'm so sorry, child. This is for your own good".

She raised both hands, and pointed them at the struggling woman.

"No way! I'm going to help, and I'm not going to stop-"

-She fainted!?

"What the heck was that?!?"

"It's difficult to explain", Calliope panted..."Think of it.....as sort of mind hacking, I suppose".

_Okay. . .That's a little..........._

"That's exactly what it is", Joey agreed flatly.

"I can't put another name to it".

**_Screams._ **

A hideous _zapping-_

Long story short, we all hustled Delta up the hill as fast as humanly possible.

To find Oli lying in a heap beside a giant hole in the Tree.

Sierra had knelt by his side-

"What happened?" Lauren asked-

"He tried to go through the tree trunk, but he got shocked or something".

Joey seemed to shudder-

_What's he remembering?_

"And now...."

She felt for a pulse.

"Oh thank God, he's not dead!"

"Okay, but now that gives us more questions than answers", Lauren said.

"Why did he get shocked?"

"....Bernhard was right, I think".

Andrea B.

"Teala was onto something".

"So whoever's down there can sing?"

That was-

"Seems that way", Shiloh concluded gravely.

"Okay, then what's our next move?" Harlow wondered-

 _"Your next move",_ someone began, as a strange noise went off, _"Is to hand that little friend of yours over to me, to us"._

. . . A green portal formed, and out of it, came this girl with dark hair, and another with pigtails.

Calliope and Alison's expressions darkened-

"Junko", the Vampire Princess growled.

_The Pigtail Girl._

"Oh hi, Ali".

Her smile was so fake-

"Long time, no see. Now why don't you hand that friend of yours over to us?"

"You won't get away with this, Junko! Hope always takes out despair!" 

Rene and Jaiden raced to intercept-

The black-haired girl whipped out a gun-

Two bangs, two identical cries.

They fell- identical bullet holes in their legs--

"Rene".

Junko shook her head.

"Rene, Rene, Rene. You and I have some unfinished business, don't we? Mukuro?"

-She stabbed them in the neck with a syringe.

I couldn't tell if they were alive or dead-

Mukuro pointed the gun at the rest of us.

"You b*s are gonna pay for this!"

Parris-

"No, don't--!" Alison shouted-

BANG.

Right through the skull.

Now I knew for _sure_ this time-

"I wouldn't try anything if I were you", Junko added, "My sister's the Ultimate Soldier and she could put a bullet right through your skull in a single shot".

"Y-you don't say", Tristen _shook-_

The body rolled down the hill, and landed conveniently near Delta.

 _Just_ as she woke up-

"No!"

The wound on full display.

"Parris!"

"Mukuro, take care of the other girl. We don't need anymore lost causes".

_What?_

"Well, I guess I had a good run. Peace out, homies".

_BANG-_

**_No._ **

Jaiden's body tumbled to the grass.

-Bullet rain-

Everyone scattered.

When we looked up-

"Alright, who's still alive?" Joey called.

"We don't really have time to do a roll call", Trigorien wavered-

""I'm just gonna assume we're all still here".

"Actually......we know one person's gone", Alison gulped.

Amidst confused looks, I glanced around, and saw who she was talking about...or rather, who I _didn't_ see-

"Oh my God! They took Delta!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh dear, oh dear-


	51. Inside The Mind: What Kirigiri-San Saw

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's bedlam.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cw: Implied gun violence and death-

“-Before you go, there’s something you should know”.

Kyoko’s calm voice broke through the fighting-

“The Future Foundation got word that Enoshima Junko and her sister have resurfaced.

They think she’s trying to revive the Kamakura Project with one of the authors”.

“What!?”

Makoto paled-

“The H* is that?” Vero exclaimed sourly-

“It means we have to hurry and find that Mirror!!"

-And he booked it out of there faster than Lightning McQueen.

-

It came as instinct again.

Like it always did. . .

He placed his hands on either side of the Mirror.......

And poured his power into the glass.

. . . . . .

Pillars of Light formed around him-

"Whoa!"

Vero gaped-

"Well done", the Sugarplum Fairy complimented.

A figure formed.

Out of the whiteness...

It looked like him-

Except flat.

Vero's face turned into this:

0 _ o' ?

"Who is that!?"

"A Projection!"

The Fairy gasped.

"What".

"He's finding a new way to get to Fiction without being detected! And if he dies, it'll only sting-"

"I'm-"

Color flooded the figure, and a green forest flushed into view.

-The glass sealed itself up, becoming not unlike that of an extra fancy window.

"-Why do you look like a Generic Protagonist?"

-He didn't respond.

"His mind's not here...but I'm not sure how it will react to the Transfer. He might assimilate so completely, he'll forget where we are entirely".

"Eh".

"That's the perils of Creating like this...."

"........Right".

-

A new portrait.

She recognized the face-

_That's Makoto!_

-But he looked younger.

And he was wearing a tracksuit.

_What did he do. . ._

Not long after that:

**BANG**

Parris' portrait gained a bullet hole to the head.

-.

Not too long after that:

**_BANG._ **

Jaiden's.

A bullet hole to the chest.

_. . ._

Now that one.

 _That_ was a problem-

_Didn't they try to rescue her?_

_And then-_

But she'd been brought back....

And **then.**

_. . . . . The Sugarplum Fairy is going to die._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh no.....yeah, they aren't going to be happy.


	52. Outside The Mind: Some Things Left Forgotten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How stubborn can a memory be?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cw: Vomit mention. Getting clothes changed without knowing.

It’d been a while since Emmy had left, and everyone else had started relaxing.

Alice

I was beginning to get antsy.

I was never good at staying in one place for too long when things were this…uncertain.

-I just hoped no one noticed anymore.

_I don’t think they’d_ _react all that well…_

I ruffled through my pockets.

My hands were cold.

_-Huh?_

Something small and velvety had been caught in my sleeve-

_Hey-_

I pulled it out:

A rose petal.

. . . ?

…..Where did I get that from?

_Did I always have this on me?_

It was probably something that I’d stuck in there for later and promptly forgotten about.

And then it’d been left behind during the clothes switch-

_Which I was out for._

-I almost threw up.

_. . . How does that always happen to me!?_

This was like the _third_ time-

_Envy would have a heart attack if he knew._

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

_Wait. . ._

For some reason…

Something was whispering at the very, very back of my mind.

Blurred blue images.

_What-_

I tried to catch them-

_What_ are _those-_

I . . . .

L

. . . U

_Huh?_

They sounded...familiar.........

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Sunday. : )


	53. Outside/The AU: Where Are You?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Status Quo moved on without someone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cw: Worry of death.

_Well this is unexpected._

Candy Pop

-Didn’t know we’d be getting the Ultimate Hope or whomever up in here.

_Assuming he doesn’t go off on Cecelia anymore…_

Then he probably _wouldn't_ die right quick.

_Dang it. . ._

Envy and I exchanged glances.

_Wish Michael were here…_

His shadow pits would be some nice insurance.

_And we’d have Alice back, too._

Speaking of-

_Where_ did _he go, anyway?_

*****

“You know-“

I squirm to get loose-

“All things considered, I _could’ve_ been doing worse-“

What? Does wearing a cloak now mean I get to be dragged around by the cape?

“Don’t you agree-“

-Dropped on the floor.

_Wonderful._

“Oh come on now-“

If I weren’t currently a _little_ tied up at the moment-

“Is this because I went and trespassed?”

“-No it’s because you got in the way”.

“Knew it-“

I sigh.

“And where am I-?”

Haha, they can’t decide whether to leave me alone or not.

"It's called 'Limbo'", they huff.

"Now don't try to be dumb and escape".

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Started in the Winter, and finished in the Summer. It's been about half a year, or it will be.
> 
> X)

**Author's Note:**

> Vero was created by Mama-Devil/charlottelaantz,
> 
>   
> and
> 
>   
> Nightcrawler was created by Bumfteeny.
> 
> Candy Pop was created by DanceOfAngels.


End file.
